Nepal Is A Republic

Editorial

Nepal Is A Republic
Vijaya Chalise
The dream of the Nepali people since 2007 B.S. has finally come true. The historic first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) turned Nepal into a republic last Wednesday, ending the centuries-old monarchical culture and 240 years of Shah rule through an overwhelming 560 votes against 4. People have welcomed the implementation of the republican agenda with great enthusiasm throughout the country.
Historic meeting
The historic verdict implemented by the first meeting of the CA formally declares “Nepal a federal democratic republic and state power rested on the Nepalese people and as an independent, indivisible, sovereign secular and inclusive state”. The historic meeting of the CA has automatically ended all the rights, facilities, status, titles given to the ex-King and his family according to prevalent law, traditions, customs and culture. Any law and administrative system that contravene will now be void. A 15 days’ time has been given to the ex-King to vacate the Narayanhity Royal Palace. And the government has given instructions to dissolve the former King’s personal secretariat and scrap all perks, allowances and facilities given to him and his family members. Now the heritage inside the Narayanhity Palace will be preserved as a national historic museum.
Earlier, after days of parleys, the political parties finally reached an agreement to have a constitutional president after the execution of the republic agenda by the first meeting of the CA. The CA met at the International Convention Centre, and 560 of the 601-members of the assembly voted for the agenda that turned Nepal into a federal democratic republic, to follow by the restructuring of the state as per the recommendations of a panel of experts. The CA will write a new constitution within the timeframe of two years.
After days of intense behind-the-scene negotiations, the top leaders of the three largest parties in the Constituent Assembly - CPN (Maoists), Nepali Congress and Unified Marxist Leninist - on Wednesday had finally agreed to the provision of a ceremonial president and executive prime minister. In the meeting that resumed Tuesday morning at the Prime Minister’s official residence at Baluwatar, there was breakthrough in the protracted talks after the CPN (Maoist) party, which is poised to lead the next government, finally relented and agreed to the provision of a ceremonial president to serve as the country’s head of state.
The discussion that began on Sunday dragged on till Wednesday evening after the Nepali Congress and the UML differed over the Maoist’s proposal for establishing either an executive president or prime minister serving both as executive chief as well as officiating head of state till a new constitution was drafted. As Koirala has been taking both the responsibility of head of state and prime minister until now, the Maoist’s logic that there should not be a president to prevent state power from being divided between two power centres was obviously reasonable. As said by UML general secretary Jhalanath Khanal, they finally agreed to the provision of president who can exercise his powers to resolve a constitutional or political deadlock and fulfill other normal presidential responsibilities. However, all executive powers would rest with the prime minister.
The Constitution Assembly and republic were the main points of the 40-point demand that the Maoists had submitted in January 1996 to the Sher Bahadur Deuba government. The Maoists had launched their people’s war after the denial of their demand by the Deuba government. The insurgency ended in November 2005 after the Maoist and the seven-party alliance signed a 12-point agreement to put up a joint struggle against King Gyanendra’s direct rule since February 1, 2005. The agreement had paved the way for the April movement in 2006 that forced King
Gyanendra to step down and hand back power to the political parties.
After executing the republican agenda, the first meeting of the CA has obviously marked a big leap forward in the nation’s political development, taking the peace process further ahead. The task will be complete with the promulgation of a new constitution. Obviously, the elected CA, result of the people’s struggle of almost six decades, including the Maoist’s 10-year people’s war, will frame a new constitution capable of addressing the aspirations of all the Nepalese people, irrespective of their cast, creed, sex, ethnicity or geographical location. Thus, the historic first meeting of the Constitution Assembly has taken the country into a new era of republic, unanimously passing the motion of implementing a republic tabled by the Council of Ministers last Wednesday. The newly elected members of the Constitution Assembly have fulfilled their commitment of ending the 240 years of autocratic rule of kings from the country.
As requested, the largest party, CPN-Maoist, has presented a nine-point proposal for the formation of a post-election consensus government at the three-party meeting. It has proposed that the Prime Minister should be the officiating head of state till the drafting of the new constitution. The party has also proposed that the current constitutional provision of two-third majority for forming or dissolving a government must not be changed. Instead, an all-party high-level steering mechanism under the chairmanship of Girija Prasad Koirala with special powers as the political guardian until a new constitution is drafted could be constituted to honour his contributions. The prime minister, the proposal said, would act as head of state until the CA drafts a new constitution. For that reason, the CPN-Maoist had proposed minor changes in the interim constitution, defying the demand for changing the two-third majority provision to unseat the head of government, and sharing power and ministerial portfolios among the parties as per their strength in the CA.
The disapproval with regard to some major points has delayed the nomination of 26 members to the CA and formation of a post-election government. Even after the realisation that the new government should be formed under the leadership of the largest party in the CA, some political leaders are showing their unwillingness to vacate their positions.
Even after a humiliating defeat in the CA election, challenging the Maoist’s moral authority to lead the government by those leaders is obviously paradoxical. Witnessing all these things, Maoist chairman Prachanda’s claim that efforts are being made to derail the past agreements after the election, be it over the issue of army integration or government formation can be well understood. Obviously, the amendment in the constitution to introduce the simple-majority provision will create instability and could even complicate the constitution-making process. Four other major parties - Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum and Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party - are insisting on amending the interim constitution.
(Vijaya Chalise is Editor-in-Chief of the Gorkhapatra)