Consensus government

Prime Minister Jalanath Khanal’s cold response to the attempt of the UCPN(Maoist) to reshuffle the cabinet and induct its new members has surprised many. Some have taken this shift in tone on the prime minister’s part as an indication of the quietly brewing differences between the largest coalition partners. And they may well be right. We expect that these developments, which have brought the Nepali Congress and the CPN(UML) together in stressing the need of a national consensus government, will slowly create a conducive environment for just such a government.



It is encouraging that even the UCPN (Maoist) has made it clear it is not against a consensus government in principal, but it is insisting on a cabinet reshuffle, arguing that that will pose no obstacle for that purpose. Encouraged by the favorable stance of the CPN-UML, the main opposition Nepali Congress has stood firm against any reshuffle of the present government and is using all means at its disposal to pressure the present government to resign and clear the way for a government of national consensus. The NC has even adopted a policy of obstructing parliamentary proceedings, arguing that the proposed reshuffle greatly undermines the spirit of the five-point deal, which explicitly underscores a consensus government.



Unboundedly, ever since the signing of the five-point deal in May 28, all the major political parties, including the coalition partners, have shown no seriousness at all in implementing that deal which paved the way for an extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA) deadline by three months to the end of August. However, it is disturbing to note that there has been no tangible progress even when the extended deadline in just 34 days away, and that mainly thanks to the intra-party feuding among the Maoists, which has overshadowed recent politics.



We believe it is high time the political parties realized the need of a national consensus government to complete the immense task of writing a republican constitution and bringing the protracted peace process to a conclusion. The country has seen coalition governments of probably all possible power equations during the last three years, but we have also seen that none of them was able to fulfill the mandate of the Constituent Assembly election to take the country toward lasting peace. We are hopeful the CA can still achieve a lot, if not everything, once all the major political parties, including the influential Madhes-based parties, come onto a common platform and forge a national consensus government. If that happens, we are hopeful the parties can at least complete the task of army integration and come up with a draft constitution.

Related story

Priority right now not government change but progress on key is...