Party Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal has said the UML will stand by the party´s stated policy of electing the executive prime minister directly through popular vote. [break]
"Our party will be lobbying consistently in the Constituent Assembly (CA) in favor of the model [directly-elected executive prime minister] until the end," Khanal told reporters after the UML parliamentary party meeting at Singha Durbar, Saturday.
However, party Secretary Bishnu Poudel ruled out any possibility of supporting the model as all eight UML members in the CA Committee on System of Governance (CSG) had earlier voted in favor of the proposal to elect the executive prime minister from parliament. He said they can´t withdraw their votes now.
"All the UML members in the CA committee have voted for a parliament-elected executive prime ministerial system as per the mandate from the party´s politburo meeting. That is our official stance. Expression of views by individual leaders make no sense," Poudel said. Contrary to the chairman´s statement, Poudel claimed that UML CA members would speak in favor of the parliament-elected executive prime ministerial system as the party can´t change its stance time and again. The CA is scheduled to hold deliberations from Sunday on the preliminary draft report prepared by the CSG.
The CA committee on December 1 held a vote on system of governance. The NC and UML formed an alliance to counter the Maoist proposal, combining the NC´s proposal for electing the executive prime minister through parliament and UML´s proposal on electoral system. But the NC-UML alliance failed to defeat the Maoist proposal.
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Later, the UML parliamentary party in a meeting decided to stand by the party´s original policy. After that, five of the eight UML members in the committee-- Ratna Gurung, Sonam Chhejung Lama, Hasina Miya, Pradyumna Chauhan and Govind Nepali-- demanded that they be allowed to withdraw their votes.
Only three senior party leaders -- Poudel, Prithivi Subba Gurung and Krishna Prasad Sapkota, who are believed to be close to Khanal´s arch rival KP Sharma Oli, remained in favor of the model they voted for.
Saturday´s parliamentary party meeting turned into a heated debate, with lawmakers belonging to the two factions engaged in arguments and counter-arguments. At one point the meeting turned chaotic.
Lawmakers close to Khanal and the party establishment fiercely criticized Poudel, who was actively involved in forging the alliance with the NC for the committee voting, and other leaders, for giving up the party´s popular agenda. Other members close to Oli in reply termed the five members´ decision to withdraw their votes as against the party´s policy.
Sapkota termed the recent decisions and steps taken by the party over the issue a farce. "Despite the fact that I am a long-time advocate of the directly-elected prime ministerial model, I stand by the vote I cast. I am ready to face party action for that," said Sapkota, who has authored a book on the importance of a directly-elected executive prime minister for the country.
On the other hand, Ratna Gurung, who was actively involved in demanding to be allowed to withdraw their vote in the committee, challenged the leadership to take disciplinary action against her if in doing so they find her violating party policy.
Lama argued that there was no need for UML cadres to hold communist flags if the party always takes decisions as per the NC´s direction. Nepali informed the meeting that he wanted to withdraw his vote.
Party Secretary Shankar Pokharel said the party´s politburo decision [not parliamentary party decision] should be the main guiding policy in taking such a crucial decision.
While Poudel argued that they had to make compromises with the NC as the constitution cannot be written if all the political parties stand by their own manifestos, UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya compared the deal with the NC to the exchange of a precious item for something worthless.
thira@myrepublica.com
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