Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) Chairman Upendra Yadav on Sunday has advised President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to issue the ordinance on election of the National Assembly.
Meeting President Bhandari at the latter's office in the morning after being invited for consultation on the issue of ordinance, Yadav told her that there is no alternative to issuing the ordinance. FSFN Chairman Yadav and leader Rajendra Shrestha had went to the President's Office following the invitation.
"This ordinance cannot be sent back in case of reservations and consultations cannot be held on it as in the case of other bills. The President must authenticate the ordinance sent by the government," press advisor to FSFN Mahesh Chaurasiya quoted Yadav as telling President Bhandari. "The ordinance says election for the National Assembly will be held in Single Transferable Vote system. We also support that. This ordinance should, therefore, be authenticated," Yadav told President Bhandari, according to Chaurasiya.
Chaurasiya revealed that President Bhandari reiterated during the meeting that all the parties to forge consensus on the issue.
President Bhandari will also consult with Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP) leaders on dispute about the ordinance on election of the National Assembly Sunday itself.
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.
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.
