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Constitution-making could suffer due to differences among parties

As the major parties have parted ways on the eve of presidential election, the process of constitution-making is likely to suffer.

Nepali Congress (NC) had already indicated it would not join the Maoist-led government once it was denied the chance to have its president Girija Prasad Koirala installed as the president.

On Thursday, after the talks between Maoists and Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) failed and the Maoists decided to back Ramraja Prasad Singh as its candidate for the president, the growing warmth between the two largest communist parties, too, has cooled off.

Consequently, the three major parties are now facing three different directions, which will haunt every step of constitution-making, according to experts.

As per the interim constitution, the Constituent Assembly (CA) has to approve each article by two-third majority in the process of writing new constitution. The CA needs to write a new constitution in two year’s time.

“Therefore, there is a need for huge public pressure in order to ensure that parties do not dither from the process of constitution-making through understanding,” said Narayan Kaji Shrestha Prakash, a leftist leader who has been involved in recent political negotiations.

But renewal of spirit of understanding among the major parties appears to be a difficult task especially as the UML feels cheated by the Maoists at the eleventh hour. The UML general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal has publicly said that his party has been betrayed by the Maoists. nepalnews.com sd Jul 18 08