The NC floated the proposal during a meeting of the top leaders of the three major parties -- UCPN (Maoist), NC and the UML -- in Singha Durbar on Tuesday. [break]
While driving its point home, the grand old party has argued that there must be compatibility between the system of governance and the federal structure.
“These two issues [system of governance and state restructuring] are interlinked. So we should treat both issues simultaneously,” said NC General Secretary Krishna Sitaula, adding that there were flaws in the CA calendar of events and that they should be rectified.
As per the CA calendar, the Constitutional Committee (CC) of the CA should submit all the contentious issues -- except the issue of state restructuring -- to the full CA meeting by January 5 for voting.
Similarly, the NC has argued that endorsement of complicated issues through a simple majority will only complicate the matter.
“We have to finally endorse each article of the constitution through a two-thirds majority. So endorsing the issues through a simple majority will only complicate the matter as the parties will have their public posture and may find it difficult to backtrack later,” said NC leader Ramesh Lekhak after the meeting.
But Maoist leader Dev Gurung said his party and the UML are in favor of voting, though the NC is firmly against it. “We should move ahead in line with the agreed procedure, not amend the calendar,” said Gurung, who is from the Maoist hard-line faction led by Mohan Baidya.
NC leaders are, however, optimistic that the Maoists and the UML will agree on amending the calendar of events and avoiding “undesirable voting” as the parties have time to discuss the issue till January end.
“In fact, senior leaders of the three major parties have almost agreed to defer voting on the issue. It is only the Maoist radical faction that is for voting,” said a leader who participated in the meeting.
Top leaders of the major parties are scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday as well to seek consensus. This will be followed by a CC meeting.
The UML leaders have also suggested that voting is not a solution to the dispute.
“We ultimately need a two-thirds majority. Voting on the issue is not a solution. We should rather seek consensus, though we are against deferring the issue again and again,” said Agni Kharel, lawmaker from the UML.
Picking a system of governance is one of the most contentious issues. While the Maoists have proposed popularly elected president saying the system will pave the way for a much needed political stability, the NC wants parliamentary system arguing that there is a risk of the country falling into the hand of an autocrat if the country adopts the Maoist proposal.
A five-member taskforce in the CC has suggested a mixed model -- directly-elected president and parliament-elected prime minister -- as a middle way solution, but the NC is against the proposal.
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