Debate begins in parliament ahead of crucial voting; communist parties still in discussion
After all efforts to strike a compromise failed, the parties are now preparing to vote their respective proposals at the parliament on Friday evening.
Although it was scheduled to start at 11 am, the House began debate only after 5:30 pm in the evening.
Chief whips of the parties have begun addressing the special session.
Addressing the House, chief whip of Nepali Congress (NC) Ananda Prasad Dhungana expressed sadness over the prospect of divisive voting to decide the Maoist proposal on immediate republic declaration and adoption of fully proportional representation based election system.
Defending the NC position, Dhungana said that Congress always stands by the promises and the commitments made to the Nepali people. He rejected charges that NC was against republic or the PR system.
"We had suggested passing a proposal expressing parliamentary commitment on democratic federal republic declaration to be implemented after the CA election," he said, adding, "We had also agreed for mixed system where fifty percent of seats will be elected on the basis of PR system. So it is untrue that we are against PR system."
Likewise, UML chief whip Mahendra Bahadur Pandey said that his party was steadfast in its resolve to usher in republic in the country.
Pandey said UML's amendment proposal aimed to bring all parties together and strengthen their unity.
He said that they were still in last-minute discussions. "If our discussions succeed, then we might resolve this problem within half an hour or so," he said. Pandey referred to ongoing discussion among leaders of UML, Maoists, Unity Center and People's Front to find out common position among communist parties. Reports say the communist parties are discussing ways to avert the situation whereby proposal on republic would be rendered into a minority. nepalnews.com sd Nov 02 07
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