OM ASTHA RAI

Ruling and opposition parties have made a major breakthrough in the constitution drafting process by reviving an agreement that was reached between them but later rejected by the UCPN (Maoist). However, there are fears that this might be another false alarm.

On 19 January, three days before political parties' self-imposed deadline to pass the new constitution, the ruling NC-UML and the opposition UCPN (Maoist) and Madhesi Front had forged an agreement on three of the four disputed issues: electoral system, model of judiciary and form of governance. They had also agreed to sort out the issue of federalism later.

But the next day, the UCPN (Maoist) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal backtracked from the agreement, led the opposition alliance to disrupt Constituent Assembly (CA) meetings and launched a series of protest programs.

Exactly three months later, the UCPN (Maoist) has reversed its decision and agreed to expedite the constitution drafting process going back to the 19 January agreement.

In a meeting at Prime Minister Sushil Koirala's Baluwatar residence on Monday, the NC-UML and the UCPN (Maoist)-Madhesi Front agreed to forward the issues of electoral system, model of judiciary and form of governance to the CA's constitution drafting committee. They also agreed to forge a consensus on number and names of new federal units through more talks.

Ruling and opposition leaders have dubbed the revival of the 19 January agreement as a remarkable progress in writing the new constitution. "It's a big step towards ending the prolonged political transition," said Ram Janam Chaudhary, Chief Whip of MJF-Democratic.

According to the revived 19 January agreement, the new constitution will adopt a mixed electoral system, a constitutional court and the Westminster parliamentary system but will confer more power to the president. But details of agreed points like percentages of directly elected and proportionally chosen lawmakers have yet to be sorted out.

So, what prompted the Maoists, whose leaders had vowed to force the NC-UML to kneel down through street protests, to revive a deal that was discarded by them?  Was it because of the flexibility shown by the NC-UML?

"The ruling parties still stand where they were on 19 January," said the UCPN (Maoist)'s Vice Chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha. "It was us who showed flexibility. We agreed to carry forward the constitution drafting process because we concluded that a prolonged transition would help the regressive forces."

After persuading its 30-party opposition alliance to call off a general strike on 7 April, the Maoists had resumed constitution negotiations with the NC-UML. The revival of the 19 January agreement was an outcome of several rounds of informal talks since 7 April.

However, the probability of the Maoists backpedalling from the agreement still exists. Failure to forge a consensus on number and basis of new federal units will be an excuse for the Maoists to discard the renewed deal.

When asked if the Maoists will reject the renewed deal in case of failure to find a consensus on federalism, Shrestha told Nepali Times, "For now, we are looking at the deal positively."