Vote, lawmakers, vote

The seventh round of voting in parliament also ended, as expected, in fiasco, failing to give the country a new prime minister. Though the UCPN-M candidate, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, increased his vote count to 252, he was far short of the magic figure 299 needed to become PM again.



Until the first few rounds of voting, it looked liked a democratic exercise. People appreciated the complications of national politics and tolerated parliament´s failure to elect a new prime minister. But not any more. They seem fed up with the round after round of voting in vain, which has become a sort of circus.



The main reason the country is stuck with a caretaker prime minister despite seven rounds of voting is many of our political parties have refused to take part in the basic democratic exercise of casting their vote. Though the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF) broke away from the United Democratic Madhesi Front over disagreement with the latter’s decision to remain neutral in the voting, the MPRF also failed to vote in the end. And the MPRF (Democratic) leadership was so wary of its own lawmakers crossing the floor that it locked them up in its parliamentary party office on the pretext of holding a meeting to decide whether to vote or remain neutral. By evening the meeting was still going on, hours after the voting had ended in parliament! As for UML it is still adamant in its neutrality stance.



Agreed, the parties have their differences and some of these are over fundamental issues. But the device of the vote has been created precisely for this reason: When there are differences among the parties which cannot be reconciled to reach a consensus, a vote is the only way out. As the party that can change the outcome of the next election, the UML must now take a decision to exercise its vote -- it can vote NC or UCPN-M but vote it must. Its leadership can no longer nurture opportunism under the facade of working for a national consensus. As the chairman of a party that is divided on almost every issue it confronts, Jhalanath Khanal should be the last person to keep harping on national consensus.



When the next round of voting happens, we hope each of the 601 lawmakers--that includes UML lawmakers--will cast their votes to give the country a new prime minister at last. They can elect either Pushpa Kamal Dahal or Ram Chandra Poudel and either one is acceptable to a country thoroughly fed up with this never-ending circus of inconclusive vote.

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