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Monarchy Resurfaces
November 22 has been fixed as the date for the so-far elusive Constituent Assembly elections. Fixation of the date was made possible by amending the interim constitution and passing the election-related laws by the parliament. In the process, the monarchy, that was supposed to be non-existent in all practicality, has resurfaced as a live institution.
Though it is still difficult to expect the security situation to be conducive to the election by November, given the present state of affairs, the fixation of the date has given a feeling that at last the country is out of the political deadlock that blocked the parliament proceedings for nearly one month during April-May.
To break the deadlock, the interim constitution was amended by hammering out a consensus among the political parties represented in the government, on issues such as the reservation of seats in the Constituent Assembly for different ethnic groups and women.
Among the major amendments in the constitution was the insertion of a provision that empowers the interim parliament to oust the monarchy by a two-third majority if the council of ministers proposes so. Some analysts describe it as redundant and even regressive. As may be recalled, monarchy was practically abolished already, by the proclamation of the parliament last year when all the duties and authorities of the king were transferred to the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Analysts say the recent amendment, in fact, gives legitimacy to the monarchy.
Meanwhile, the hornet’s nest was disturbed by a news that quoted the Prime Minister saying that his suggestion to the king is to abdicate the throne in favour of royal grandson Hridayendra. Though the Prime Minister denied the statement, the harm was already done. The Prime Minister’s statement was quickly denounced by critics who labeled him a monarchist and declared him even unfit for this post. Koirala accentuated the harm by claiming that the Nepali journalists who quoted him in the news stories could not properly understand his remarks made in English.
Other major provisions included by the second amendment require parliamentary hearing before the appointment of people to the positions in the constitutional bodies including those of the Supreme Court Justice and ambassadors. Though this ensures transparency in such appointments by making the process democratic, it is learnt that people who have a high level of self-dignity are shunning appointment to such positions because they will be interrogated also by those MPs who have either low academic competency or immoral character. As may be recalled, quite a good number of existing MPs have earned notoriety for their past records and some of them are in the Hearing Committee of the parliament.
The next step in the political process that the government is going to take in the near future is the formation of local government bodies. According to the news being circulated, the political parties are parleying for their shares of the seats in these bodies while a proposal is already prepared by the local development ministry that is headed by a Maoist representative.
The latest news is an announcement by Maoist Supremo Prachanda of his wish to be Nepal’s President. He made this announcement while speaking to an Indian TV channel. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel is at loggerheads with the press for two main reasons: one is his alleged meeting with some high profile people against whom corruption cases are going on in the courts, while in the second the Supreme Court is hearing a Contempt of Court case involving a weekly that published a news item alleging Paudel of sexual abuse.
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