An informal meeting of NC office-bearers and CWC members held at the residence of party President Sushil Koirala Saturday to prepare the party´s official position on a four-point proposal floated by the Mohan Baidya-led Maoists during an all-party meeting called by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav on Friday, also ruled out any possibility of adopting a fully proportional electoral system. [break]
NC CWC member Arjun Narsingh KC said most CWC members participating in the meeting stood in favor of holding the poll on the stipulated date. "The general opinion is for holding the poll within Mangsir (by mid-December). We can go for November 29 instead of November 19 if there is any problem adjusting the election calendar of events. But the election has to happen within Mangsir," he told media after the meeting.
A few CWC members, however, argued at the meeting that the NC should not be rigidly against holding the election in April if that brings the Baidya-led alliance on board the election process. "We have not had elections for 19 months. What´s wrong in deferring the poll for the next four months if that guarantees participation by the agitating Maoists," CWC member Bal Bahadur KC told Republica.
Those standing in favor of deferral to bring the agitating side into the poll maintained that it would be practically impossible to hold the election in all districts of Karnali zone and a few VDCs each in the other hill districts after November. Since an election after November will be difficult in a large number of hill districts, NC would do better go for deferral for a few months.
Most CWC members expressed doubts whether Baidya was still ready to participate in the poll as his top leaders have time and again said in public that there was no point holding the Constituent Assembly (CA) election to draft a new constitution. "Since the Baidya-led party has not yet registered with the Election Commission, there is still no guarantee they will participate in the fresh CA election. They have been saying in public that the CA election is of no use," said NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi.
During the meeting, Nidhi proposed to give the CPN-Maoist a deadline to register with the EC while keeping the poll date now scheduled for November 19 unchanged. "We have decided to propose a Roundtable Conference Committee instead of a High Level Political Committee in view of the demand of the Baidya-led alliance for a roundtable to resolve contentious issues of the new statute," Nidhi further said.
The body proposed by the NC can deliberate contentious issues of the new statue as and when needed, both before and after the CA election. However, such a Committee shall include only political parties represented in the erstwhile CA, and not the various stakeholders such as a women´s group, Dalit group and indigenous nationalities group as demanded by the agitating side.
Though it went by a different name, major parties represented in the erstwhile CA had formed a similar body, the Dispute Resolution Committee, to tackle contentious issues.
The Baidya-led Maoists, during the all-party meeting called by President Yadav, demanded a roundtable political conference with participation by the political parties and representatives in the erstwhile CA as well as the agitating political parties. It also demanded the resignation of chairman of the poll government Khil Raj Regmi from the post of chief justice, formation of a ´political cabinet´ under Regmi if necessary, and deferring the CA poll, now scheduled for November, to April to bring about consensus.
The NC meeting stood categorically against the resignation of Regmi as chief justice and the adopting of a fully proportional electoral system. "It is undemocratic to adopt a fully proportional electoral system that will rob the individual of his or her right to contest the election," said NC leader Arjun Narsingh KC.
KC also said that there was no possibility of resolving contentious issues concerning the new statute through a political roundtable as proposed by the Baidya-led alliance. "How can there be consensus in the next 65 to 70 days when those issues could not be resolved in four full years," he added.
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