CPN (Maoist Center) leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha has said a single person cannot become prime minister (PM) of the left alliance and chairman of the unified party implying that CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli should be PM and Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal the chairman of unified party.
In an interview with Setopati on Wednesday, Shrestha stated that it is obvious that Oli will be the next PM but refused to accept the argument of UML leaders who say the model of one individual becoming PM and the other chairman is not right as it creates different power centers within the party. "We will resolve that through dialogue. We cannot think about unification now on the basis of temporary grounds. We must think in an original manner. We must consider what will unite the party and help in operating the government more effectively and make it people-oriented," he stated.
He rejected the prospect of Oli becoming the PM and another UML leader chairman of the united party outright as an alternative if a single person should not become PM of the left alliance and chairman of the unified party. "It can be possible down the line but how can that be possible while unifying the party?" he responded implying that Dahal must become chairman of the unified party if Oli were to become PM.
He assured that Maoist Center is committed toward unification at a time when relationship between the top leaders of UML and Maoist Center look strained and UML has grown suspicious about Dahal's commitment toward a unified party. He opined that the two parties must complete homework on at least three issues before unification.
"First, there must be a minimum interim agreement on the ideological political line. Second, there must also be consensus on formation of leadership and unification of the organizational structures of the two parties. We must also ensure freedom of expression on the differences between the two parties and the issues that the unified communist party must discuss, and uniformity in action," he proposed.
Slamming the current culture where lawyers and legal experts interpret the Constitution differently as per their respective political affiliation, he supported the stance taken by Nepali Congress (NC) that the final results of House of Representatives (HoR) cannot be announced before election of the National Assembly even as UML argues that it can be announced before formation of the National Assembly.
"I am not in favor of wrong interpretation of the Constitution. Each party must have at least one-third women in the federal assembly (including HoR and National Assembly) as per the current constitutional provision. There is a clear provision that says it should be ensured with the last tool of the party's list for proportional representation for HoR. This means it does not seem possible to determine how many women the parties must include in the PR list if the National Assembly is not formed. There is a constitutional provision, in this way, that requires formation of the National Assembly to prepare the final list for HoR including the names of the lawmakers. We should not tamper with that," he stated.
He opined that the parties must find consensus on the ordinance about election of the National Assembly through dialogue to end the current political impasse. "We must explore if the Constitution and laws allow the Election Commission (EC) to submit a report stating only the number of seats won by each party in the HoR, and form the government on the basis of that. But we must look to find a solution through consensus among political parties when the EC has been saying that an incomplete report cannot be submitted in that manner," he said.
Formation of the new government has been stalled as President Bidhya Devi 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.
The left alliance has been demanding that the EC should announce the final results of HoR and send that to the President’s Office before formation of the National Assembly. But all the other national parties including Nepali Congress (NC), Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP) argue 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.
