CJ-led Government-03

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Hope of holding elections to a new CA in June has been fading way very fast. Political leaders have told their cadres that the chance of holding elections in June has been slim; let us prepare for the elections in October or November. The main reason is the obstruction of updating voters’ list in districts. The CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya has unleashed its cadres to break the equipment and burn the documents of the officials of the District Election Commission updating voters’ list in districts. The CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya neither wanted to talk to the Interim Election Council nor to the four major parties but it is willing to talk to the head of state on conditions. Another reason is the citizenship certificates, as voters’ lists are based on the citizenship certificates. Members of the international community have been concerned with the possible delay in elections.

Probably, some unavoidable problems of amending laws have been to hold the elections. The Election Commission has drafted the amendment bills on Election Commission Act of 2063 (2007), Constitution Election Act of 2064 (2007), and Voters’ List Act of 2063 (2007), and submitted these draft bills to the Interim Election Council (IEC) on April 1, 2013. The IEC needs to submit these bills to the president for passing them to ordinances. The Chief Election Commissioner said that once those bills become laws then, the date for elections could be set. One of the bills has included an article that makes a person indicted for felony, misuse of diplomatic passports, murder, money laundering, rape, kidnapping, stealing, looting, drug, spying, and smuggling ineligible for being a candidate.

The IEC has been discussing the draft amendment bills. Small political parties have opposed the provisions made in the amendment bills such as political parties receiving less than one percent of votes would not considered as national parties. Some ethnic groups feared for the small communities of different ethnic groups might lose the representation in the Constituent Assembly (CA). They could not get their voices heard in the nation. The IEC and the political parties have been discussing the amendment bills before presenting them to the head of state for passing them into laws.

The 33 political parties headed by the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya have submitted a memo to the Election Commission on April 1, 2013 demanding to stop all the election-related activities. They stated in the memo that the formation of the IEC, and amendment to 25 articles are unconstitutional. President Dr Ram Baran Yadav had approved them unconstitutionally. The Election Commission should not hold elections following the unconstitutional approval of the amendment to 25 articles of the constitution, they said. Leader of CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya Dev Gurung even warned the Chief Election Commissioner of the need for the Election Commission to face the grave consequences if the Election Commission were not to stop the election-related activities immediately.

The Election Commission has suspended the updating of the voters’ lists. One reason was certainly the opposition of the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya. Another reason was the distribution of the citizenship certificates. The Election Commission could not distribute voters’ cards without citizenship certificates. The Home Ministry has recently authorized the Secretariat of Peace Fund to release more than Rs 90 millions to the local administration for running the campaigns of distribution of citizenship certificates to the Nepalis completing 16 years of age. The district administrations would send mobile teams to the villages across the 75 districts of the country to distribute citizenship certificates to the eligible persons. The Election Commission would update the voters’ lists based on the citizenship certificates. Nepalis of 18 years and above are eligible to vote. Some of the teenagers even having citizenship certificates would not be eligible for voting.

Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal also has hinted at the possibility of holding elections in October or November. He has said that the IEC should set the realistic date for the elections in view of the ongoing obstruction of updating of the voters’ lists in district and the technical and legal problems the Election Commission has to resolve before holding elections.

Some leaders of NC have said that the viability of holding elections is only in October or November. They have said that they have seen a number of political, legal and technical problems of holding elections in June. They have repeatedly said that they agreed on the IEC because they have to remove the coalition government of the UCPN-Maoist and the UDMF headed by Dr Baburam Bhattarai in other words they are not serious about the elections.

NC and CPN-UML leaders and leaders of the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya did not want elections to a CA for different reasons. NC and CPN-UML leaders feared for the victory of the federalists headed by the alliance of UCPN-Maoist, UDMF and other small like-minded political parties. The victory of the alliance of the federalists means the country would have a constitution focusing on the federalism and federal states means passing the central authority to the states. NC and CPN-UML leaders took the stand on against such a constitution even causing the demise of the CA in May 2012. CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya leaders did not want the elections again fearing for the victory of the federalists, as it would mean they would not be able to force the country to have the people’s democracy. If they could stop the IEC and the Election Commission from holding elections, it would create a political vacuum: the favorable environment to capture the state power. NC and CPN-UML leaders think differently, in such a political vacuum, they could go back to the old parliamentary system they don’t need to be directly accountable to the people.

Some political analysts in the articles published in the local newspapers have stated that the NC and CPN-UML leaders have been inciting the small political parties to oppose the elections. In fact, some members of the central working committee of the NC have been opposing the IEC. They have continued to demand the Chairman of IEC to quit the office of the Chief Justice. Senior leaders of NC openly said that they accepted the IEC just to remove the Dr Baburam Bhattarai from power indirectly not for the elections. Senior leader of CPN-UML Madhav Nepal has no faith in the IEC. He has been demanding the Chairman of the IEC to quit the office of the Chief Justice. These NC and CPN-UML politicians must be very happy with the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya opposing the elections. So, they did not have any word to oppose the criminal activities such as smashing the laptops, burning down the voters’ lists and kidnapping the staffs of the district election commission offices perpetrated by the cadres of the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya. NC and CPN-UML leaders have said that they need to persuade the opposing political parties to participate in the elections through dialogues.

The IEC has formed a three-men committee to have dialogue with the opposing political parties particularly the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya. Leaders of the Vaidhya Maoists have flatly rejected the offer of the talks. They said that they did not recognize the IEC. President Yadav did not follow the constitution for forming the IEC. If the president did not follow the constitution why they should follow the constitution. They unleashed the cadres to smash the laptops, burn down the voters’ lists, and kidnap the staffs updating the voters’ lists. They also sent their cadres to capture the property owned by the Chairman of IEC Khil Raj Regmi on April 3, 2013. They have challenged the rule of law. If the president has stepped out of the constitution why they should follow the constitution, the Vaidhya Maoists questioned.

The high-level political committee of the UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF has also offered to have a dialogue with the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya. Leaders of the Vaidhya Maoists demanded to tear off the 11-point agreement the four parties had reached to set up the IEC; they also demanded to dissolve the IEC, and annul the amendment to the 25 articles of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 in other words go back to square one. They wanted a round-table meeting of all political parities having representation in the dissolved CA. They also wanted to form an all-party government to hold the elections.

The Vaidhya Maoists were ready to have talks with the president but with conditions. Their demands are for annulling the amendments made to the 25 articles of the constitution, and dissolving the IEC. If the president were to agree on these conditions they were ready to talk to the president. The president has not responded to the offer of the Vaidhya Maoist having talks with the president.

The Vaidhya Maoists have been for creating a political vacuum. Such an environment would be conducive to grabbing the power at the center, the Vaidhya Maoists think. This was exactly what the NC and CPN-UML leaders also wanted. They believed that in such circumstances, they would be able to take over the power at the center. The president is certainly the former NC leader. He always has soft corner for his former colleagues. Then, NC and CPN-UML leaders could make him a rubber stamp president. Even now, the president has been the rubber stamp of the four major political parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF.

The political scenario just described was the wishful thinking of the NC and CPN-UML leaders, and of course of the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya, too. Both the political groups have been for grabbing the power through the unconstitutional means. So, they were not for holding the elections. They wanted to make the IEC scapegoat. The future of the Chairman of IEC hangs by a thread.

NC and CPN-UML leaders believed that removing the elected government headed by Dr Baburam Bhattarai and installing the unconstitutional IEC, they have achieved a half of their objective of capturing the state power. The irony is that both the NC and the CPN-UML leaders claim that they are the saviors of democracy. In reality, they have been poisoning democracy in Nepal. IEC is not constitutional; the Nepal Bar Association takes its stand on it. The Bar has declared the day of March 14, 2013 when the Chairman of IEC was sworn in as a black day in the history of judiciary.

Legal practitioners have petitioned at the Supreme Court of Nepal for annulling the formation of the IEC, and annulling the amendment to the 25 articles of the Interim Constitution done by the president for forming the IEC, and for forming an all-party government of all political parties represented in the dissolved CA. We don’t know what would be the rulings of the Supreme Court. Political parties particularly the CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya needs to go to the Supreme Court of Nepal rather than sending its cadres to smash laptops, burn down the documents and kidnap the staffs updating the voters’ lists. The Vaidhya Maoists have made it clear that they are not for following the rule of law. So, they have not registered their party CPN-Maoist-Vaidhya at the election Commission to give it a legal status.

You don’t know what the rulings of the Supreme Court of Nepal would be on the petitions against the formation of the IEC, and against the amendment to the 25 articles of the constitution the president had made following the recommendations of the four major political parties. We believe that the Supreme Court is an independent body. But it has the history of keeping the cases pending when the ruling of the Supreme Court adversely affected the government or the head of state. The Supreme Court can keep any case pending for years in absence of a law for time-bound ruling on cases. However, recently, the Supreme Court has been giving a top priority to the cases of the national importance.

Speaking at an event held by the Reporter’s Club of Nepal in Kathmandu on April 3, 2013, General Secretary of UCPN-Maoist Posta Bahadur Bogati said that his party would take the issue to streets if the date of CA election were not immediately announced for the third week of June. “The current government and the Election Commission (EC) have been formed with the purpose of holding election within the stipulated timeframe,” he said, but the government has delayed setting the election date causing suspicion. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com)

Speaking at the same event, CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal said that the political parties had forged a consensus on holding elections by November if any unforeseen circumstances were to prevent going to polls in the third week of June. He said that the UCPN-Maoist’s threat to take the issue to streets had emerged after it had stepped out of the government.

Talking to reporters at Narayangadh in Chitawon on April 3, 2013, Vice-chairman of CPN-UML Bamdev Gautam said that setting the date for the elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) should not be delayed; the date for the CA elections should be set at the earliest by holding a meeting of the political parties and the Election Commission (EC). (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com)

Talking to reporters in Itahari on April 3, 2013, Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-Nepal) Kamal Thapa said that the constitutional and political existence of the government would end if it failed to declare the date and make necessary arrangements for holding the election by the third week of June; the current government formed by the four-party syndicate would be toppled by themselves if it failed to hold elections by June, and if it opted for lingering the process until November. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com)

Speaking at an event held in Ramechap on April 4, 2013, President of NC Sushil Koirala said that the chances of holding elections to the Constitution Assembly in June were remote. President of NC Koirala said, “Though the Congress is still firm on its stance that the election should not go beyond mid-July, practically the chances for conducting election in the stipulated time are very slim.” He kept mum as to when the election could be held. However, he did not forget to tell the party rank and file to pull their socks in view of the imminent polls. (Source: HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE)

Chairman of IEC Khil Raj Regmi invited leaders of all political parties represented in the dissolved CA to his office at Singhadurbar for discussing the proposed draft amendment bills on the election-related laws on Thursday, April 4, 2013. Leaders of the UCPN-Maoist and the smaller parties in the Maoist-led Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA) opposed the one percent threshold saying that it deprives the smaller parties from getting represented while the NC and the CPN-UML backed the provision. "The threshold does not deprive parties from getting represented. Those failing to meet it can reach alliance with other parties to secure their place," CPN-UML leader Agni Kharel said after the meeting. Top leaders of the UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF skipped the meeting. (Source: Nepalnews.com)

Speaking at the topic “Upcoming Elections and Madheshi Concern” hosted by the Nepal Madhesh Foundation in Kathmandu on April 4, 2013, Chairman of Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party also one of the members of the High Level Political Committee of the four major political parties Mahanta Thakur said that the current government would lose the legitimacy of setting date for elections if it were not able to hold elections to a CA on June 21, 2013. He said that the current government has the legitimacy to hold elections by June 21, 2013; thereafter it would lose the legitimacy to announce another date for holding elections. He quoted the provision made in the amendments to 25 articles of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, “the government should hold elections on June 21, 2013 otherwise it would lose the legitimacy; thereafter a commission would be set up, to form a new government to hold elections.” He also said if the current government would not be able to hold the elections, the 11-point agreement the four parties had reached would not make any sense. (Source: Gorkhapatra of April 5, 2013)

Article 1.7 of the 11-point agreement the four parties had reached on March 13, 2013 says, “If the elections could not be held by June 21, 2013 for the reasons beyond control or for the technical reason; then the elections would be held in November; the council of ministers would set the date for the elections with the approval of the High Level Political Committee.” (Source: Gorkhapatra of March 14, 2013).

The 11-point agreement the four parties had reached on March 13, 2013 was the agreement among UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF. Other parties would not need to follow it but the amendments to the constitution were binding to all the citizens of Nepal. So, Chairman Mahanta Thakur was correct to say that the current government would lose its legitimacy to stay on in the office if it were to fail in holding the elections on June 21, 2013.

The International community wants the elections are held without delay. The European ambassadors in Nepal have met with the Chairman of the IEC to find out the status of holding election to a CA. They have been ready to help the IEC and the Election Commission in any way to hold elections on time. They also have met with the Chairman of the CPN-Maoist Vaidhya to persuade him to participate in the elections.  Former US President Jimmy Carter, currently the president of the Carter Center has been in Nepal to explore the status of holding elections in Nepal. On March 31, 2013, former US President Carter met with the leaders of major political parties including Mohan Vaidhya of the CPN-Maoist and his deputy CP Gajurel. President Carter also had met with the Nepalese President and the Chairman of IEC. Speaking to the reporters at a pres conference held in Kathmandu on April 1, 2013 before leaving for Myanmar, Former US President Jimmy Carter said holding Constituent Assembly elections was not possible in June in view of not setting a poll date so far, the approaching monsoon and inadequate preparation. He believed that the third week of November would be the most appropriate time for holding elections. He also said that Mohan Vaidhya and CP Gajurel assured him of participating in the elections if their demands were met.

April 6, 2013