NC arrived at the conclusion following intense consultations with experts at Nagarkot a few days ago. “There has been an understanding within the Nepali Congress on a total of seven federal states,” said Gagan Thapa.
Thapa said the proposed federal states include one in the far-western region, two in Madhes, one in Kathmandu Valley, one in eastern hill districts and two states in the central region of the country.[break]
NC leader Ramesh Lekhak said though the 14-province model of federal system passed earlier by Constituent Assembly´s State Restructuring Committee tries to ensure identities of various ethnic groups in the country, it utterly fails to take into account economic viability. “We have concluded that nine of the total 14 federal states proposed won´t be economically sustainable,” he said.
Lekhak said that there could be a maximum of eight federal states if both economic viability and identities are to be taken into account. “NC would maintain its position to delineate federal states keeping in view economic viability as well as ethnic, linguistic and regional identity,” he said.
NC CWC had earlier formed a Constitution Drafting Suggestion Committee under the chair of party Vice president Ram Chandra Paudel. Senior NC leaders including Paudel, Bimalendra Nidhi, Lekhak, Laxman Ghimire, Arjun Narsingh KC and Gagan Thapa had held detailed discussions with two experts -- Pitambar Sharma and Krishna Khanal -- to develop party´s official position on federal states, system of governance and electoral system.
NC leader Laxman Ghimire said they concluded that formation of state restructuring commission is a must to delineate federal states.
The Constitution Drafting Suggestions Committee has formed an informal team comprising Narahari Acharya, Laxman Ghimire and Gagan Thapa to work out the party´s proposal for a federal model along with delineation of each federal state. The NC has proposed that the name of each federal state be either decided by parliament of the federal state concerned or be given alternative names to choose from.
The meeting also held discussion on electoral system and form of governance.
NC is for the prime minister elected from parliament and a president, who would be the ceremonial head of the state. “We held discussion on various alternative models. But we found that directly elected presidential system has not been a success in many Asian countries,” he said. “We do not want to give birth to a dictator through a constitution drafted by the elected Constituent Assembly.”
Party leaders said there are chances that NC could show flexibility on French model if there were no consensus on the model proposed by NC.
Likewise, NC has concluded that mixed electoral system would be appropriate in Nepal. “While the proportional electoral system helps to ensure representation of all marginalized groups, first past the post electoral system would help the party leaders to remain in direct contact with the people,” said Ghimire.
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