‘The Himalayan Times
KATHMANDU: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala today said the Unified CPN-Maoist could lead the next government if they agreed to address the demands being raised by other parties.
“If the first point of the three-point pact inked on May 28 is implemented, the Maoists can lead the next government,” said Koirala.
Koirala said she had told Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ about the concern being raised by the parties—integration and management of Maoist combatants, scrapping the paramilitary structure of YCL and returning the seized properties during conflict by forming a separate commission.
Saying that the Nepali Congress central working committee had ignored her voice to go for consensus government, Koirala demanded that NC opt for a national consensus government. “NC has ignored the politics of consensus begun by late Girija Prasad Koirala,” she said. www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullTodays.php?headline=%27Maoists+can+lead+govt%27&NewsID=250800
2. PLA integration bone in gullet: POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JUL 24 – Serious differences among political parties on the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants thwarted the UCPN (Maoist) bid to form a majority government on Friday.
The Maoists’ effort to form a government was further made difficult with the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), a coalition of Madhes-based parties, putting forward a number of demands, including ‘one madhes, one province’ and bulk entry of Madhesi community in security forces.
The Nepali Congress (NC) was the first one to ask the Maoists to agree on the number and modalities of integration, followed by the CPN-UML. The NC and the UML refused to support to the Maoists to form a Maoist-led unity government earlier as the latter failed to come up with a credible plan on integration. The Madhesi parties also took the same stance on the integration issue.
With the third round of the prime minister’s election scheduled for Aug. 2, political parties have 10 days to work for consensus. Unless the parties work out a magic formula, agreement seems elusive.
Both the NC and the Maoists could not address the demands of the UDMF.
The three major parties—NC, Maoists and UML—have been refusing to agree on an autonomous madhes province for long now.
And unless the UML changes its decision of not voting for a majority government, Madhes-based parties will remain key players for both the NC and the Maoists.
Chairman of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Upendra Yadav expressed optimism that they would have consensus, but said the parties must make a commitment on the ‘one Madhes one province’ issue. Maoist leader Dev Gurung said some points of a concept paper floated by the UDMF on Friday needs further discussion. According to Gurung, a meeting between the Maoists and the UDMF on Friday agreed to continue discussions on the UDMF’s concept paper and work out to forge consensus.
UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, who withdrew from the prime minister’s race in the last minute on Wednesday, said his party will stand by its central committee decision not to take part in the voting process until consensus is had for a national unity government.http://www.ekantipur.com/2010/07/24/top-story/pla-integration–bone-in-gullet/319070/
3. PM runoff witnesses standoff: By KESHAV P. KOIRALA in The Himalayan Times
KATHMANDU: The prime ministerial runoff held in the Legislature-Parliament session of Constituent Assembly on Friday evening ended up with yet another standoff as both the candidates failed to garner mandatory majority votes to be elected as the new prime minister. The House will hold the reelection on August 2.
When the proposals to elect UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress vice president Ram Chandra Paudel were put to vote separately in the House session that started with a six-hour delay this evening, the former bagged 241 votes in his favour while the latter secured 123 votes.
113 votes were cast against Dahal’s name and 218 lawmakers stayed neutral in the voting that witnessed the attendance of 572 lawmakers.
On the other hand, 241 votes were cast against Paudel and 214 lawmakers stayed neutral over his name. 578 lawmakers attended the voting session when the proposal to elect Paudel was put to vote.
NC’s prime ministerial candidate Ram Chandra Paudel (3rd from left) along with other leaders on his way to cast vote in the PM’s runoff in parliament, at New Baneshwor, on Friday, 23 July 2010. (THT Online/Navesh Chitrakar)
Announcing the results, Speaker Nembang said that as the proposals failed to garner majority (300 votes out of 599 in the 601-member House) as described by the Interim Constitution, they were rejected.
Before adjourning the House, he said the proposals would be put forth in the next meeting at 4 p.m. on August 2.
The CA’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) had fixed the date for the next meeting after consulting with the major three parites earlier today.
In the election held on Wednesday, Dahal had garnered 242 votes, while 140 votes were cast against him. 236 lawmakers had stayed neutral over his name.
In the same election, Paudel had bagged 124 votes in his favour. 235 votes were cast against his name, while 228 lawmakers preferred staying neutral.
The election could not be conclusive today as the CPN-UML, which withdrew its candidate from the prime ministerial race on Wednesday, and the Madhes-based parties stayed neutral.
The CPN-UML has been stressing on the formation of new government with consensus among the parties, while the Madhesi parties have put forth some conditions to lend support to the prime ministerial candidate.
The United Democratic Madhes Front of four Madhes-based parties decided to stay neutral in the runoff today saying it needed time to hold discussion with the parties vying for the premiership before taking final decision over the support.
The Front comprises of four parties–Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Democratic, Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party and Nepal Sadbhawana Party–with 82 votes in the CA that has no majority of any of the 25 parties.
After Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned from the post on June 30, President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav had asked the CA parties the next day to form a national consensus goverment within seven days as per the Article 38(1) of the Interim Constitution.
He later extended the deadline by five days upon all political parties’ formal request.
However, the parties failed to forge the consensus on July 12 also. And, he asked the House to elect the new prime minister with a majority as per the Article 38(2) of the Interim Constitution.
http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=PM+runoff+witnesses+standoff&NewsID=250745&a=3
4. UDMF holds the key
Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU: With not enough time to hold talks with the parties fielding prime ministerial candidates, the United Democratic Madhesi Front today decided to abstain from voting.
The UDMF, comprising four Madhes-based parties – Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum Nepal, MJF-Democratic, Nepal Sadbhawana Party and Tarai Madhes Democratic Party — having a total 82 votes — are crucial to get the PM elected.
Organising a press conference, Upendra Yadav, chairman of MJF-Nepal, said the Front decided to abstain from today’s election, as reply on their conditions from the two parties didn’t leave them with enough time to reach a conclusion by holding talks with them.
Since both the candidates were demanding their support to win the election, the Front had prepared a basic document to base their talks with the two parties on it.
Earlier Maoist standing committee members Dev Gurung and Barsha Man Pun ‘Ananta’ handed over the party’s official letter to the UDMF leaders requesting to begin talks on the Front’s basic document. Talking to mediapersons, Gurung said most of the issues raised in the document were positive and were also raised by his party, while a few needed to be dealt with seriously.
Later, during the press conference, Yadav said the Front had called NC and Maoist leaders for talks on Sunday at 9 am and 1 pm, respectively, at the parliamentary party office of TMDP in Singha Durbar.
The Front has demanded that the integration, rehabilitation and management of all the Maoist combatants should be completed in four months, besides fully disarming the party. Its other demands include: Maoist combatants should be brought under the control of special committee for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants immediately, regrouping them within two months; the number of combatants to be integrated should be fixed within a month.
The talks team of the Front will comprise all the chairmen of the four parties — Rajendra Mahato of NSP, Mahanta Thakur of TMDP, Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar of MJF-D and Upendra Yadav of MJF-N. Sources in the Front said they could vote for any of the two candidates in the next round of polls scheduled for August 2.http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=UDMF+holds+the+key+&NewsID=250819&a=3
5. Another dud day; Round III on August 2: by Prakash Acharya, The Himalayan Times
KATHMANDU: After none of the candidates of the prime ministerial post secured the required votes even in the second round of elections held today, the process of electing new Prime Minister has been delayed by another 10 days.
The third round of polls has been scheduled for 4 pm on August 2.
UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal said, “New PM will not be elected even in the next round of elections if the parties are not ready to forge national consensus. The UML will not change its earlier decision until the parties reach consensus on national agendas – peace and new constitution.”
Unified CPN-Maoist candidate Pushpa Kamal Dahal got 241 out of 572 votes cast, while Nepali Congress candidate Ram Chandra Paudel got 123 out of 578 votes cast today.
Prachanda had got 242 votes while Paudel had got 125 votes in the first round.
A candidate needs to poll at least 300 votes to become the PM, as the strength of CA, which doubles as parliament, is 599.
Today’s voting process began nearly six hour later than the scheduled time, after the Maoist and NC could not agree upon the date of holding the third round of polls. UCPN-M wanted to hold the polls at the earliest possible, while NC proposed August 6 for Round III, as the party has scheduled its district level conventions from July 25 to August 2.
CPN-UML, Madhes-based parties and almost all fringe parties except a few voted on “no vote” column.
NC is hopeful that the CPN-UML would ultimately support it and the Madhes-based parties would come to its fold following the UML’s support. While UCPN-M is hopeful that it would be able to convince Madhes-based parties to garner their support by next round of elections.
PM Madhav Kumar Nepal told mediapersons that the parties must reach consensus before the next round of elections.
Paudel hoped that UML would vote in the next round. The UML has preferred to remain neutral after it failed to garner assurance from 401 CA members for its candidate Jhalanath Khanal as per the party’s Tuesday’s decision.
Paudel said the NC was ready to address the concerns of the Madhesi front. “The NC has requested the UML to hold bilateral discussions to find a way out. I am hopeful that we will reach a consensus,” he said.
Paudel added that he talked to Maoist chairman Prachanda yesterday, requesting him to support NC this time. He said the NC would continue talks with UCPN-M, UML, Madhes-based parties and other fringe parties in the coming days.
UCPN-M leaders refused to say anything on today’s voting and the future course the party would take. “We are hopeful that the nation will get new PM in the third rounds of elections,” said Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (Democratic) leader Sarat Singh Bhandari.http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Another+dud+day%3B+Round+III+on+August+2&NewsID=250818&a=3
6 .CPN-UML at war within: POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JUL 24 – Differ-ences in the CPN-UML have deepened further over what should be the party’s position on the formation of a new government.
The faction led by KP Sharma Oli and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal wants to revoke the party’s decision not to vote in favour of a majority government. Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and his supporters are sticking to their decision to only support a national consensus government.
“The party has already decided to vote for only a consensus government. It’s our institutional decision and we will not support any party for a majority government, no matter what happens in the government formation process,” said UML general secretary Ishwor Pokharel. He added that UML will not revise its central committee decision at any cost.
However, the Oli faction is demanding that the party’s Central Committee meeting be convened to take a fresh decision in the changed context. “A consensus
or two-thirds majority government is impossible. In such a case, the party should take a decision in favour of a majority government,” a Standing Committee member close to Oli told the Post.
The Oli faction is for an NC-led government. “After failing to form a national consensus government, the leaders should pave the options for the formation of a majority government,” said Krishna Gopal Shreshta. Sources said the Oli faction might revoke the earlier decision of the central committee as Oli commands a strong majority in the committee. However, Chairman Khanal is reluctant to call a central committee meeting, fearing pressure from the Oli faction.
The Khanal faction is for a national consensus government comprising major political parities. /www.ekantipur.com/2010/07/24/top-story/cpn-uml-at-war-within/319076/
7.‘NC indulging in politics of profit and loss; election a mere exercise’: KANTIPUR REPORT
CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal has accused Nepali Congress (NC) of indulging in politics based on profit and loss and suggested the latter to opt for politics based on ethics, principles and missions on Saturday.
Talking to media personnel after a blood donation programme organised at the party office in Balkhu, Khanal said an ethical approach based on principles and missions should be taken rather than opting for a calculative approach in politics.
He said the prime ministerial elections held in the Legislature- Parliament on Friday was nothing more than an ‘exercise’ and the third runoff scheduled for August 2 will turn out to be the same unless the parties forge an agreement.
Khanal appealed to the parties to think with a different approach with a new pace to reach an agreement.
The UML will stay neutral in the third runoff as well if an agreement is not forged, Khanal informed. http://www.ekantipur.com/2010/07/24/top-story/nc-indulging-in-politics-of-profit-and-loss-election-a-mere-exercise/319101/
8. Sujata casts doubt on ministry decision
Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala today expressed her dissatisfaction over the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s decision to award the contract of printing Machine Readable Passport (MRP) to a French firm, Oberthur Technologies.
The ministry on July 6 had awarded the smart passports printing contract to the French
company.Minister Koirala said she smelt a rat in the contract awarding process and demanded a fresh probe.
The MRP deal is already under parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) scanner and the House panel is sitting tomorrow to take final decision regarding the deal.
PAC has raised questions that the ministry violated Public Procurement Act while choosing the company to award the contract to print smart passports.
“I am grossly dissatisfied with the decision because the deal is not transparent,” Koirala told reporters today.
“I am the minister. Even if it’s a caretaker government, I am still the minister and I need to know about the goings-on because I am responsible for any decision my ministry takes. As a minister I gave a nod for the tender process but I am yet to receive the tender documents,” added Sujata.
PAC also has asked the ministry officials to furnish the tender documents.
“If the deal has been done in a proper way, it must be transparent. If there are irregularities, we must be prepared to award the contract another deserving company,” she said.
Even the other two companies—that lost the tender—have filed a complaint claiming that Oberthur Technologies had submitted ‘fake documents’ while applying for the contract.
As per the deal, Oberthur will supply 4 million sets of smart passport to Nepal at a price of US$ 3.59 per piece within 70 days of the signing of the deal. While controversy is on, the ministry has already dispatched a letter to Oberthur Technologies inviting its representatives to sign a deal. http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullTodays.php?headline=Sujata+casts+doubt+on+ministry+decision&NewsID=250799
