President Bidhya Devi Bhandari will consult with Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP) and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) leaders on Sunday as the dispute about the ordinance on election of the National Assembly worsens.
Formation of the new government has been stalled as President Bhandari is sitting on the ordinance for over two months with the parties divided on whether the election for National Assembly should be held in Single Transferable Vote system or majority system.
Spokesperson at the President's Office Madhav Sharma confirmed with Setopati about the meeting called with leaders of the Madhes-based parties. "She has invited FSFN for consultation. I don't know who apart from Chairman Upendra Yadav come," Sharma stated. "She is also scheduled to invite RJP leaders for consultation today itself," he added.
Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba had also called an all-party meeting Friday morning to end the current political stalemate but that failed to reach any conclusion with the leaders standing firm on their respective stance. The five parties that managed to become a national party through the recent parliamentary elections--CPN-UML, Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center), RJP and FSFN--were invited for the meeting.
RJP and FSFN leaders supported the ordinance sent to the President's Office for authentication during the all-party meeting and insisted that the election for National Assembly should be held in Single Transferable Vote system.
The left alliance has been demanding that the Election Commission (EC) should announce the final results of House of Representatives (HoR) and send that to the President’s Office before formation of the National Assembly.
The government and NC insist that the EC can determine the number of women each party will have to send to the HoR only after formation of the National Assembly.
The next government cannot be formed until the EC sends the final results of HoR to the President’s Office.
