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Holding Elections Following The Agreements
By KTM Metro Reporter
June 3, 2013: Speaking at the Reporters' Club in Kathmandu yesterday, the second-generation leaders of major political parties emphasized that the Constituent Assembly elections should be held following the past agreements; they warned that situation could turn worse if the parties were to break the agreements, according to ‘gorkhapatraonline.com.’
Leader of UCPN-Maoist Barsa Man Pun Ananta said that the government should announce the election date following the 11- point political and the 25- point decree. “The government needs not to wait for the political parties to decide on the disputed issues of election law. It should announce the poll date based on the past agreement to which we are abiding by," he said. Pun, however, stressed the need for holding the polls following the previous election law that has the provision for 601 CA members and no threshold. The UCPN-Maoist leader also opposed the threshold provision, claiming the parties had never agreed on it.
He opined it would not be rational for Interim Election Council Chairman Khil Raj Regmi to leave the post of chief justice just for appeasing the CPN-Maoist that is not for participating in the elections. He accused the parties, which advocated the multiparty competitions, of trying to restrict the representation of fringe parties in the CA by enforcing the threshold provision.
The UCPN-Maoist leader heavily came down on president of NC Sushil Koirala for terming the high-level political mechanism as the four-party syndicate and challenged him to quit it for saying so.
Leader of NC Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat asked the UCPN-Maoist not to bring new issues to push the polls into uncertainty. "Such a posture will erode the parties' credibility." Dr. Mahat said that new CA polls would be unlikely if the attempts were made to fail the agreement. He defended the provision for keeping 491 members and threshold in the new CA. He accused the incumbent government of not concentrating on the elections.
Dr Mahat alleged that the government ran afoul of law by giving approval to the upgrading of Trishuli A, thereby losing million of rupees from the state coffer.
CPN-UML secretary Yubaraj Gyawali urged the UCPN-Maoist to respect the past agreement and end its ideological ambiguity. He opined that the incumbent interim election council chairman should quit the judicial post if the election-opposing parties joined the election process. Gyawali warned that the country could plunge into grave crisis if the election could not be held within November.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani claimed that an election environment could be built if the Interim Election Council chairman gave up chief justice post. (Source: ‘gorkhapatraonline.com)
