Prez again extends deadline till Dec 29

KATHMANDU, Dec 25: President Ram Baran Yadav had yet again extended the deadline for the political parties to agree on prime ministerial candidate till December 29.



This is the sixth extension of the deadline issued by the head of state. The first deadline had expired on November 23.[break]



The president extended the deadline hours before he left for a five-day visit to India after delivering a written speech to chiefs of over 30 political parties represented in the dissolved Constituent Assembly (CA) at the president´s office in Sheetal Niwas.



In his speech, he expressed hope that the parties would reach consensus by the time he returns from India.



He categorically wanted four issues be settled within the next couple of days. First, he wanted the political parties to reach a common minimum agreement on the process to ensure CA election at the earliest.



Secondly, he wanted that the political parties agree on nominating a prime minister based on political consensus in accordance with the Article 38 (1) of the Interim Constitution to head the election government. Thirdly, the head of state wanted the parties to find a solution to fill the top-level vacancies in constitutional bodies.



In the fourth point, this time the head of state has also asked the parties to suggest to him any other democratic solution to the current impasse.



The president, in his statement, has explained that the repeated discussions held with political parties and all other initiatives taken by him in the last seven months were intended to help the political parties settle the political issues through consensus. He argued that he did so as the Interim Constitution has envisioned to settle transitional political issues through consensus and cooperation among the political forces.



In his speech, the head of state also expressed concern over the worsening state of governance created due to virtually non-functioning state of some vital constitutional bodies such as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) as there are no office bearers for years.



"Several constitutional bodies have no office bearers. Even at the Election Commission which has the responsibility of holding polls, all commissioners are going to retire soon ," the president said in his statement.



"The Supreme Court is becoming unable to handle the pressure of cases as several justices have retired and the court is now dependent on a limited number of permanent justices."

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