National 1 (Spotlight Weekly)

Futile Debate

With the debate on the constituent assembly gathering steam, the country is heading toward a more chaotic situation

By KESHAB POUDEL

As the political debate shifts from the cease-fire to the constituent assembly, the country seems to have been trapped in a vicious circle of political uncertainty. If leaders continue the futile debate on the constituent assembly, Nepalese politics risks being plunged into deeper instability.

Demonstration : Triggering uncertainty

At a time when the major parties are in no position to take a decision and impose their will on others, the debate over the constituent assembly will not serve anyone's interest.

Since the major political parties that represent the opinions of a large segment of the people remain suspicious of cease-fire reached by the other two powers and ensuing political developments, opening another front over the constituent assembly will serve nobody's interest.

"I don't understand how one can guarantee a more democratic constitution when all political forces are divided and weak. If the new constitution is drafted through the election of the constituent assembly, it will neither make a Bolshevik-type constitution nor a Milosevic-type," said a political analyst. "This will only create chaos in the political process."

After boycotting the all-party meetings called by the government to develop political consensus and declining the demand for the constituent assembly, leaders of the major political parties have already shown that they will not back the new political process.

When the country's main constitutional political institutions are weak, nobody understand the rationale behind the call for elections to the constituent assembly. "How will the constituent assembly be formed? Who will nominate the chief and what will be the modalities of power sharing?" asks an analyst. "As there are many constitutional and other matters regarding the assembly, it will take decade to come to an agreement."

Agreeing to the election for the constituent assembly will only invite a new type of political instability. "I don't see any rationale to go for the election to a constituent assembly when there are provisions to amend the constitution after keeping four fundamental questions like constitutional monarchy, multi-party democracy, human rights and independent of judiciary," said a lawyer.

Along with the Maoists, some Nepali Congress leaders are also debating the need for a constituent assembly to create a replacement for the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990. Although Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala still rejects the need for a constituent assembly, nobody is certain that the man would maintain that stand. The CPN-UML has already opened the door to all kinds of debate constitutional matters.

When the country's political forces are weakened in such a way, formulating a new constitution through a constituent assembly will benefit the two extreme ends of the political spectrum. For the rest of the country, the political process will get further derailed.

As Maoists are pushing their demand for a constituent assembly and the government, too, seems to be in a mood make concessions to the rebels, there is a clear possibility of a backlash from the major political parties, which represent the popular will.

Devastated by the seven-year civil war, the country is now heading toward a deep constitutional crisis where it will have to face political instability. Nepal has hardly got an opportunity to pass through a peaceful and constitutional course. If political leaders and players do not realize this in time, they will be complicit in pushing the country into a deeper quagmire.