Electing A New Prime Minister

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

On Sunday, August 28, 2011, the parliament is going to elect a fourth prime minister after Nepal has become a Federal Democratic Republic. Vice-chairman of UCPN-Maoist Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Parliamentary Party Leader of NC Mr. Ram Chandra Poudel are two main contenders for the office of prime minister. Both the candidates have claimed that they have the sufficient support for getting elected to the office of prime minister but only the election on Sunday will prove the authenticity of their claim.

After the resignation of the most incompetent Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal from the office of the prime minister on August 14, 2011, once again political leaders have engaged in building a consensus on forming a new government. However, none of the politicians claiming the office of prime minister has been successful to do so despite several rounds of talks with all the political groups that could swing either to one candidate or another. So, both Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba could not form a new government.

Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has been the most incompetent one in the history of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Neither he could convince his partner UCPN-Maoist nor the opposition party NC of the need for agreeing on completing the peace process and the constitution writing. Rather Mr. Khanal has proved to be the puppet of the UCPN-Maoist taking nine members of the UCPN-Maoist in his cabinet just two weeks before quitting the office.

Mr. Khanal has been incompetent to enforce the rule of law, too. Mr. Khanal has been the helpless prime minister that has been unable to bring the cadres of the Yong Association Nepal (YAN) Purushotam Basnet and his guardian Mahesh Basnet to justice for assaulting reporter Khilanath Dhakal in Biratnagar. His political colleague KP Oli has openly bestowed upon Mahesh Basnet the tile of ‘true cadre’ of the CPN-UML for protecting Purushotam Basnet from the police.

In fact, Mr. Khanal has lost his credibility for not building a consensus on all-party government. He has held the parliamentary election to a new prime minister after Madhav Nepal resigned from the office for seven months demanding to build a consensus of all political parties on forming a new government. However, Mr. Khanal reached a secret seven-point deal with Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda and got elected to the office of prime minister on the majority vote on February 3, 2011.

Following the resignation of good for nothing Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav called on all political leaders to build a consensus on forming a new government setting August 21, 2011 the deadline for it. During this period, both the candidate of UCPN-Maoist Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and of NC Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba could not build a consensus on a new government. However, the political leaders requested the president for another three days for working on building a consensus, the president generously comply with the request of the political leaders but the political leaders could not agree on a consensus government during the extended period, too consequently making the president to ask the parliament to elect a new prime minister following the Article 38 (2) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007.

After it has been sure that Jhalanath Khanal is going to quit the office either under the pressure of the NC lawmakers holding the House hostage demanding the resignation of the prime minister or under the pressure of his colleague in his party, so-called senior leader of the NC Sher Bahadur Deuba has started off a campaign against NC Parliamentary Party Leader Ram Chandra Poudel demanding either to quit the office of the NC Parliamentary Party Leader or face a non-confidence vote but Mr. Poudel stood to the challenge of Mr. Deuba.

NC Party President Sushil Koirala has skillfully save the party from chaos and agreed on making Deuba a candidate for a new prime minister for the first round of exercise for forming a new government by building a consensus on it and making the NC Parliamentary Part Leader Poudel for the second round of election to a prime minister following the majority votes in the parliament.

Sher Bahadur Deuba has been a controversial political figure in the past. He has dissolved the parliament in May 2002 obviously not consulting with his party boss Girija Prasad Koirala and called for midterm general election in November of that year apparently following the suggestion of the then absolute ruler Gyanendra. Certainly, the then NC President Koirala could not tolerate the unilateral decision of Deuba on dissolving the parliament and fired Deuba from the party forcing him to form a new breakaway party NC-D.

In October 2002, Mr. Deuba went to the palace and requested the absolute ruler for extending the deadline for the general election set for November for another six months stating holding elections in the environment of the conflict with the then CPN-Maoist was next to impossible. Deuba said that he did so under the pressure of the leaders of political parties. The absolute ruler Gyanendra on the live TV address to the nation labeled Deuba incompetent prime minister and fired him from the job.

Given the political background of Deuba, most of the political analysts and some political leaders have questioned the credibility and authenticity of Deuba. He has betrayed the political leaders dissolving the elected parliament and literally turning over the power to the absolute ruler. The then seven-party alliance has fought for the recovery of the dissolved parliament for four years but could not succeed it. Then, they reached the 12-point deal with the then CPN-Maoist in November 2005 for bringing down the then absolute ruler and declare Nepal a republic. With the active support of the UCPN-Maoist, the seven-party alliance reinstated the parliament in April 2006 and the same parliament set up a new parliament with the inclusion of the CPN-Maoist members. So, political analysts have been not in favor of giving Deuba power again.

Now, the parliament is set to elect a new prime minister on Sunday, August 28, 2011. Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda with his colleagues Narayankaji Shrestha ‘Prakash’ and Ram Bahadur ‘Badal’ have registered the nomination of Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai for the office of prime minister at the parliamentary secretariat on Friday, August 26, 2011. Similarly, General Secretary of NC Prakashman Singh along with Bimalendra Nidhi has gone to the parliamentary secretariat to register Ram Chandra Poudel as the NC candidate for a new prime minister on Friday, August 26, 2011. The CPN-UML has not dared to field its candidate as its leaders both Madhav Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal have proved their incompetence in handling the office of prime minister. They have mismanaged the state treasury and have become corrupt; they have discredited the CPN-UML to the extent possible.

Dr. Bhattarai has been the Minister for Finance in the nine-month cabinet of Prachanda. During the nine-month period, he has disciplined the revenue officers that have been infamous for corruption and forced the illegal money holders to declare their assets paying 10% tax to the government. Nepalis have anticipated something good from him. Unexpectedly, he has to quit the office after Prachanda resigned from the office protesting the President’s interference in the business of the prime minister on May 3, 2009.

Thereafter, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal not only let the revenue officers work as usual but also reinstated the subsidy on the fertilizers increasing the corruption. Madhav Nepal made money stealing the money from the pockets of poor Nepalis increasing the prices of sugar and potatoes and directly stealing from the state treasury.

Jhalanath Khanal simply has followed the footsteps of Madhav Nepal. He has appointed Bharat Mohan Adhikari to Deputy Prime Minister and gave the portfolio of Minister for Finance. The first thing Mr. Adhikari did was to declare amnesty to the insincere industrialists and businessperson that defaulted on paying value-added tax (VAT) provoking the protest of the secretary to the Ministry of Finance. In the protest against the announcement of the amnesty to the VAT defaulters, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance quit the office. Mr. Adhikari proved to be one of the corrupt finance ministers in the new Nepal. 

Parliamentary Party Leader Ram Chandra Poudel has held the office of the parliamentary Speaker, and the offices of various ministers in the past. He has been deadly against the UCPN-Maoist. He has been one of the main characters that have opposed any decision made by the cabinet headed by Prachanda. Along with other colleagues, Mr. Poudel has marched from the international convention hall at New Baneswor to Chabahil Pashupati protesting against the appointment of Nepalese priests to serve Lord Pashupati displacing the Indian priests. His deeds have deeply hurt the minds of real Nepalis that have the strong feelings for the nationality. Actually, Mr. Poudel has fought for the jobs of the Indian priests working in Nepal.

Now, the current parliament has five main political groups. The first and the strongest group is UCPN-Maoist, the second largest party is NC, the third one is CPN-UML, and the fourth is UDMF and finally the recently formed front of small political parties. The first two political parties have clear political ideologies. The UCPN-Maoist is certainly for the dictatorship of the proletariats whereas the NC is declared Democratic Party but seldom follows the democratic values and principles. Its members have been infamous for corruption. One of its leaders Chiranjivi Wagle has been serving the jail term for corruption. CPN-UML is called a communist party but its leaders are for faking everything. So, political analysts called them fake communists. UDMF is the group of Madheshi political parties bound by the common goals of making Madhesh a single Madheshi province but most of its leaders change their color as soon as they get the opportunity of serving in the government. The last group of small political parties is recently formed group of different political parties that has been in the parliament due to the flawed electoral system adopted by the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007.

UCPN-Maoist could have the majority vote in the parliament if it can form a coalition with anyone of the NC, CPN-UML, and UDMF but the recent political development is that the UCPN-Maoist is most unlikely to form a coalition with anyone of these political parties. All of these political parties want the UCPN-Maoist detach from its People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and return of the property seized by its cadres during the conflict with the state. The UCPN-Maoist is unlikely to give up the PLA for the office of prime minister, and its cadres are not only unwilling to return the property they have seized but also they want the title to the property.

Mr. Poudel needs to work hard to put together the lawmakers of at least four political parties such as NC, CPN-UML, UDMF and the fifth group of small political parties. He needs to meet the desire of most of the lawmakers in question. He can promise a jumbo cabinet distributing portfolios of ministries to the politicians waiting for the ministerial jobs rather than sincerely completing the tasks of the peace process and the constitution writing.

Mr. Poudel has declared that he is for completing the peace process and the constitution writing and ending the impunity. He needs two-thirds majority to complete these two national tasks. He cannot make it without support of the UCPN-Maoist lawmakers. The two-thirds majority of 601 parliamentarians are 400 but the UCPN-Maoist alone has 238. So, keeping the UCPN-Maoist in the opposition in the parliament, Mr. Poudel has a little chance of either completing the peace process or the constitution writing.

So, the role of the UCPN-Maoist is the crucial one in completing the two national tasks of completing the peace process and the constitution writing. Naturally, UCPN-Maoist lawmakers have either to take the credit of completing these two tasks or the curse of the people for not completing these nationally important tasks. Nepalis cannot blame the remaining four political groups for not completing these two tasks because they cannot do it without the cooperation of the UCPN-Maoist lawmakers.

Electing one candidate or another to the office of prime minister does not make any sense if anyone of them has a little chance of getting two-thirds majority for completing the peace process and the constitution writing. I think all the lawmakers know it but most of them have to follow the party’s whip at the time of election. So, they have no freedom of voting to one candidate or another at their will. However, one thing we have to appreciate is that our political leaders have been doing an exercise for democracy talking to each other and negotiating with each other. This has strengthened the republic and has made the Nepalis conscious of the political development minimizing the possibility of the totalitarian leaders taking power again. In view of the current political environment, the UCPN-Maoist lawmakers need to work together with other lawmakers to complete the peace process and the constitution writing.

August 27, 2011.