"No matter who leads the new government it must be a national consensus government for the credibility and legitimacy of elections," said constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya while presenting a concept paper on the challenges and way out for resuming constitution-making, organized in the capital by the Constitutional Lawyers Forum (CLF). [break]
Acharya stated that the Interim Constitution is not a hurdle to holding election, pointing out that provisions relating to the Constituent Assembly (CA) cannot be invoked as the CA does not exist.
"The revival of the dissolved CA will be unconstitutional, illegal and immoral," Acharya argued. He maintained that fresh elections could be conducted through election-related ordinances.
Former speaker Daman Nath Dhungana stressed the need for redefining the term ´consensus´ mentioned in the Interim Constitution. "The Interim Constitution has envisioned consensus among political parties represented in the erstwhile CA," he said, adding "The current situation has arisen as newly arisen forces are not being addressed".
Senior Advocate Radheshyam Adhikari maintained that elections for a fresh CA in mid-May should not be postponed under any circumstance. "There is no alternative to fresh polls to tide over the current constitutional and political crisis," he added.
Adhikari said that political parties should focus their talks on laying credible grounds for elections rather than on who leads the new government.
Lawyer Agni Kharel, an CPN-UML member, said the present crisis cannot be addressed if one tries to find the solution in the Interim Constitution. "It is useless to try to form a national consensus government under Article 38 (1)," he stated.
"The president has called on the political parties time and again to form a national consensus government under Article 38 (1), but it has been futile and will remain so in the coming days," Kharel added.
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