The Constituent Assembly which convened on January 22 with the promise of delivering a new constitution within a year has completed its first six months. The prospect of the new constitution still hangs in the balance, though.
Leaders and political observers say the CA has made a ‘satisfactory progress’ so far, while they are also quick to advise the political parties and the leaders to pick up the pace, if they want to get the job done on time.
Thus far, the CA has carried out all its tasks on due date, as specified by the parliamentary calendar. Tasks related to taking ownership of the progress made by the previous CA; deliberations on agreed and disputed constitutional issues; and identifying the contentious issues and holding first round of talks with all parties, both inside and outside the CA, have all completed. The CA has also taken the ownership of the progress made by Constitutional Committee (CC) of the previous CA, and the parties are on the path of subscribing to the agreements forged by Dispute Resolution Sub-committee of the previous CA.
It would have been difficult for the CA to make such progress, if it had to begin right from the scratch, discarding the works accomplished by the previous assembly.
Nilambar Acharya, the former CC head, said taking ownership of the achievements made by the previous CA was indeed a praiseworthy move, but it is not sufficient to deliver a new constitution within a year.
He added that the parties are yet to start discussions on contentious issues, and the mistrust among the parties is widening. He suggested the parties to start engaging on intensive discussion on contentious issues for the new constitution. The parties should focus their attention towards finding consensus on forms of governance, federalism, and electoral system.
Until now, there have not been any discussions among the parties on these key contentious issues that had led to the dissolution of the previous CA. In the recent months, the relations among the parties have also soured. The ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML do not share the same camaraderie they used to, and the relations between the ruling and the opposition parties are already on the rocks.
The main opposition, UCPN (Maoist), has forged a working alliance with four Maoist parties outside the CA, and opposing the ongoing co
nstitution drafting process. This has raised the questions about the UCPN (Maoist)’s commitment to the ongoing peace and constitution drafting process. A top NC leader, however, said that they are preparing to appoint UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as a coordinator of the High Level Political Mechanism. “If Dahal is to helm the HLPC, he could bring the CPN-Maoist and other parties on board the constitution drafting process,” said the NC leader. CPN-UML, which was not ready to provide the HLPC leadership to Dahal earlier, has also concluded that offering Dahal the the job would help create a conducive environment for the promulgation of the new constitution. CA Chairman Subas Nembang said the six months performance was satisfactory, and the parties should continue with the same pace in the coming days to issue the new statute on time. As the largest party, the ruling NC should take the leading role in the constitution drafting process, he added. “Now, the parties do not have any pretext to avoid the constitution drafting process, regular meetings can help forge consensus on contentious issues.”
Ruling party as well as opposition party leaders expresses the optimism that they would find a compromise on the contentious issues for the new constitution. “There is no alternative to finding a point of understanding, even if that entails abandoning the official party position,” said NC leader Purna Bahadur Khadka. “If the constitution is not drafted this time around, there will not be another chance.”
Only six months remain, and the parties are yet to prepare a solid foundation to translate their commitment into action. Although the CA was elected for four years term, the parties are bound by the oath to deliver the new constitution by February next year. They should make each day count.
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