A meeting of the alliance of 21 political parties, including ruling parties, held at the UCPN(Maoist) central office at Parisdanda on Saturday afternoon, also asked President Ram Baran Yadav to correct his step. [break]
President Yadav on Friday called on the political parties to nominate a prime ministerial candidate through consensus and come up with an appropriate proposal to form a new government within the next seven days.
"The meeting of the FDRA concluded that in making his call to the political parties, the president breached his constitutional jurisdiction," said General Secretary of the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party-Nepal (TMDP-N) Dan Bahadur Chaudhari, adding, "The president cannot make such a call to the political parties in the absence of parliament. So, he (president) must correct his step at the earliest."
The meeting said that the president can call on the political parties to elect a prime minister through a voting process as per Article 38 (1) and (2) of the Interim Constitution only if parliament is in existence.
"The Interim Constitution has not envisioned electing or appointing a prime minister from beyond parliament," reads the press statement issued by FDRA after the meeting.
According to Chaudhari, the alliance meeting also concluded that the president´s move shows that he intends to exercise executive powers, going beyond his constitutional role.
"The president´s move is not only against the constitution and the laws but is also against the duty, responsibility and decorum of a ceremonial president," states the press statement.
Chaudhari said that the president´s call to the political parties is ´irrelevant´, adding that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has already made it clear he is ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of consensus among the political parties and to end the current political deadlock.
Meanwhile, the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), an alliance of five ruling Madhes-based political parties, has called a meeting for Sunday to make public its official view on the president´s call to the political parties.
"The UDMF will make public its opinion on the president´s latest move after a meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday)," said Chaudhari.
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