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Sharing Experiences
An American professor stresses on the importance of ‘right procedure’ for fruitful constituent assembly
By A CORRESPONDENT
With the objective of sharing the international experiences on the process of constitution making, the American Center in Kathmandu last week organized a Digital Video Conference with an American professor based in New York .
The American Professor of Constitutional Theory stressed on the “right kind of process” for the successful holding of constituent assembly. Participating in a Digital Video Conference from New York , Professor Andrew Arato said that the CA is a lengthy process that takes up between 6 to 9 months in minimum.
“Elected CA is a sine qua non for democratic constituent assembly,” he said, adding that a simple majority rule should not dominate the constitution-making process. “A multi-stage process is appropriate to win the ownership of the whole process,” he said.
Professor Arato said that while issues under discussion in Nepal were similar to the issues that cropped up elsewhere, the triangular power base in the country was its unique feature. Professor Arato added that he believed Nepal could have both the restored parliament as well as a roundtable, which could set procedural rules that will prevent the CA from going haywire.
“You definitely need some planning before the whole process is started,” he said. He, however, cautioned that CA is not “automatically a solution to rights of minority.” According to him, it is important to inform to the wider public that the mere holding of CA alone were not a guarantee to the solution of all kinds of problems related with exclusion and repression. It needs special attention by all the actors concerned to come up with proper constitution through CA that is both progressive as well as enforceable.
Stressing for a proportional representation electoral system for the purpose of CA, he said, “The first past the post system could give a majoritarian assembly.” He added that the country could adopt different electoral system for CA and legislative elections.
The conference was participated by a number of Nepalese journalists. Two panelists –Dhruba H. Adhikari, president of Nepal Press Institute and Badri Bahadur Karki, former attorney general – also took part in the discussion that was moderated by Robert Hugins of American Center . The panelists asked specific questions related with the ground situation in the country.
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