Congress preparing to face voting on Maoist demands

As the series of consultations have failed to bear any fruit, senior Congress leaders are now hinting that they are ready to face voting in the parliament to decide the Maoist demands.

Nepali Congress vice president Gopal Man Shrestha told reporters in Pokhara on Thursday that NC would vote against the Maoist proposal – regarding immediate declaration of republic and adoption of fully proportional representation based election system. Shrestha added that NC would also vote against the proposal for constitution amendment by the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML).

Likewise, NC acting president Sushil Koirala has also indicated that voting would resolve the deadlock if the Maoists do not withdraw their proposal in the parliament.

Meanwhile, a senior UML leader has said that his party could vote in favour of republic and PR election system - if it comes to voting in the parliament.

Jhal Nath Khanal, standing committee member of the party, said in Lamjung that UML would vote in favour of its old demands for republic and PR system if consultations fail to reach a compromise. He said UML was working hard to arrive at a compromise of approving commitment proposal on republic and changing the current mixed election system in favour of 70 percent voting through PR and 30 percent through direct election instead of 50-50.

The special session of the parliament is going to resume on October 29 where the Maoist proposal will have to be decided through voting if attempts to reach compromise do not bear fruit by then.

Although the communist parties including the Maoists and UML have majority in the interim parliament, they lack the two-third majority required to push through their proposals.

According to Article 148 of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, any proposal that seeks to amend the constitution has to be passed by two-third majority. Likewise, as per the second amendment of the constitution, the proposal to declare republic, too, needs to be passed by two-third majority.

In the current set-up of the parliament, Nepali Congress has 132 MPs followed by Maoists with 84; and UML with 83. Similarly, People's Front (PF) led by Amik Sherchan has 4 MPs while its splinter Rastriya Jana Morcha led by Chitra Bahadur KC has 3 MPs. Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) has 4 MPs while Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) have 6 and 2 MPs respectively. Nepal Sadbhavana Party has 8 MPs and Leftist Front has 2 MPs. nepalnews.com sd Oct 26 07

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