KATHMANDU, DEC 14Major political parties are working on a “consensus proposal” to settle the UCPN (Maoist) demands, including an investigation into alleged vote rigging, in the Constituent Assembly ( CA ) itself.
Key negotiators from the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML said the Maoist party responded positively to their proposal of forming a parliamentary committee to probe the alleged poll irregularities after they agreed to reiterate their commitment “to not backtrack from secularism, republicanism and federalism.”
“Though there has not been any express commitment, Maoist leaders, including Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, sounded more flexible on Wednesday as they were positive on dealing with the vote fraud allegations in the parliament,” UML leader Bhim Rawal said.
So far, the UCPN (Maoist) had been opposing the NC and UML proposal to settle all disputes through the CA .
An alliance of 16 parties—Federal Democratic Republic Alliance (FDRA)—led by the Maoist chairman had earlier decided to stay away from the CA process until their demands are met.
A key negotiator said that Dahal would need a few more days to discuss the NC and UML’s ‘consensus proposal’ with his alliance partners and come up with a decision.
On Friday, the FDRA rejected the proposal and said it will not be part of the CA until a high-level probe commission is formed to look into the ‘vote rigging.’
Still, negotiators said there was a possibility of a “trade-off” between the commission and appointments in top positions in the new political set-up, which would accommodate the dissenting parties.
Leaders in the FDRA said such a ‘trade-off’ would be possible only in the “second stage of negotiations,” while the first stage will focus on the formation of a commission to probe the ‘poll irregularities’ and owning up past achievements made in the erstwhile CA .
Though the NC and the UML have been publicly saying that they would own up the major achievements of the previous CA , the Maoist party is still doubtful, given the changed power balance.
On power sharing, the UML has already proposed sharing top five political posts—president, vice-president, prime minister, speaker and chairman of the constitutional committee—among the major political parties.
A senior Madhesi leader, also a member of the FDRA, sounded confident of a “win-win agreement” from the ongoing negotiations.
Maoist leaders sounded cautiously optimistic. “I am not sure whether a deal would be signed tomorrow, but from the negotiations I gather that the NC and the UML will positively respond to our demands,” said Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha.
UML leaders also said the HLPC will be dissolved right after a new consensus agreement is signed.
“Since an elected body is in place, the HLPC will be no more in existence,” said UML General Secretary Ishwor Pokharel.
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