Looks like efforts to end the deadlock in Nepali politics is itself deadlocked
Leaders of the four main parties started gathering at Shital Niwas at 2pm on Friday, but the UML leaders were held up at their own Central Committee meeting in Balkhu unable to agree on whether or not to agree to the Chief Justice as the leader of an election government.
When the UML leaders arrived, and it was clear there wasn’t yet an agreement, the President looked worried. He gave the parties one more day to come up with a deal. “If there isn’t an agreement by tomorrow, there will be completely different circumstances from Sunday,” he was reported to have said.
The UML leaders could not agree on the CJ, and even if they did there were differences on the modalities under which he should be allowed to lead the new government and whether he should be called “prime minister”.
“Most Central Committee members were against CJ being the prime minister,” said UML’s Raghu Pant. He said there were questions about the long-term effects the decision would have on the independence of the judiciary. Some members also wanted to know why other parties agree on something that was unilaterally decided by one of the parties.
Other UML leaders have said they has been “intense outside pressure and lobbying” to get them to agree with the CJ nomination, but they said even those who agreed said the CJ had to resign before he can lead and election government.
Legal experts said that even if there is a deal on a new government leader on Saturday, there are many other loose ends to sort out. Clauses in the constitution to deal with elections need to be changed, there has to be agreement on what to call the CJ’s new role and whether he should resign or not. There are also questions about what to do with voters who have become 18 year old after 2008, there are changes in the constituencies needed to reflect the 2011 census, especially in the Tarai and Kathmandu Valley. Is it going to be an election for just a parliament or a Constituent Assembly, and if so how many seats in the new CA?
Even if a new prime minister is chosen on Saturday, therefore, it is unlikely that there will be an agreement on these issues in time to hold elections by 29 May.
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