After failing to elect a new prime minister even after conducting 16 rounds of voting in parliament over the last six months, the parties agreed to amend the relevent provision with a view to make the election process result-oriented.[break]
Though leaders representing major parties agreed to include a provision saying lawmakers cannot abstain or stay neutral during voting in a prime ministerial election, they have differed over the method of voting.
According to the existing provision, a vote for each candidate is tabled independently for decision as a motion in parliament. Lawmakers can vote for or against each candidate. Sixteen rounds of voting turned out to be futile as the third-largest party, CPN-UML, and some fringe parties stayed neutral or abstained from voting.
All three major parties -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML-- have agreed that a provision be included prohibiting any lawmaker from abstaining or staying neutral during voting. They have also agreed to incorporate a provision allowing lawmakers to vote only ´for´ a candidate of their choice but not ´against´. The parties agreed to include the provision, realizing that allowing lawmakers to vote ´against´ may again lead to a situation of indecisiveness.
The NC has said a proposal should be tabled for voting for all candidates at the same time, not one at a time as in the existing provision.
NC leaders have also proposed that second round voting be conducted only between the two finalists selected from the first round.
"We proposed the condition with a view to making the election process result-oriented, realizing that the country should not be held hostage any longer because of the parties´ inability to elect a new prime minister," NC Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire told Republica.
Though the CPN-UML is in agreement with the NC´s proposal to conduct voting on all candidates at the same time, it has said all the candidates should be given a chance to compete in a second round as well, unlike the other parties´ proposal to select two finalists from the very first round. "We are for selecting two finalists only for the third round voting," said UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya.
The Maoists for their part have proposed that voting for each candidate be tabled as a separate motion in parliament, similar to the practice so far. The Maoists and NC are one on selecting two finalists from the first round voting.
"We are for restarting the election process from scratch if none of the two finalists secures a majority in the second round," said Ghimire.
A five-member committee formed by parliament to draft an amendment proposal failed to finalize it due to the differing stances of the major parties.
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