At the meeting with CA Chairman Subas Nembang, top leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML and main opposition UCPN (Maoist) differed over the process of constitution drafting. [break]
“With consensus eluding the political parties, it would be better to hold a vote on constitutional provisions and send the thematic committees´ reports to the Constitutional Committee (CC). But the ruling parties are against this,” said Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha after the meeting.
The constitution-making process has been stalled due to sharp differences among the parties. The CC should have prepared the first draft of the constitution by March 5, but the committee missed its deadline as the CA full house has so far forwarded the reports of only two committees out of 11, due to the sharp differences.
Shrestha and Dev Gurung from the Maoists, Jhalanath Khanal and Bishnu Paudel from UML and Ram Chandra Paudel and Ram Sharan Mahat from NC were present during the meeting.
“We can continue the dialogues to narrow down the differences, but should not linger like this if the country is to witness the new constitution on May 28” said Shrestha.
While the Maoists say the CA should allocate some time to garner consensus on the constitutional provisions and vote by simple majority to forward the reports to the CC, the ruling parties say this would not be productive as the CA would finally need a two-thirds majority to promulgate the new constitution.
“The constitution would not be drafted just by going through voting at this juncture. Ultimately, the CA would need a two-thirds majority to promulgate the constitution. So we should continue dialogue until we reach consensus,” said UML leader Bishnu Paudel who participated in the meeting.
Similarly, an earlier meeting of the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) also failed to reach consensus on the jurisdiction of the proposed state restructuring commission. The political parties agreed in principle to form a commission, but disagreed over its jurisdiction.
While the ruling parties say the commission should be allowed to make recommendations on the names, number and delineation of provinces independently as per the interim constitution, the Maoists argue that the commission should not be granted any right to make recommendations that override the decisions of the CA committee on state restructuring. The CA state restructuring committee has passed an ethnicity-based federation, drawing widespread flak.
The leaders of the ruling parties stated that Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal agreed to form the commission as per the interim constitution during the HLPM meeting Monday morning, but he did not turn up at another scheduled meeting to finalize the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the commission.
“The Maoist chairman had agreed to form the commission as per the interim constitution, though Maoist leader Gurung had shown some reservations. I didn´t understand why he did not attend the second sitting,” said UML leader Keshab Badal.
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