Nepal’s Maoist party not to join coalition

IANS/Kathmandu

The party had threatened to stay out of the constitution drafting process immediately after the country’s election on November 19, if the government fails to form an independent probe panel on “vote rigging”, Xinhua reported.

“We will join the constituent assembly so we ask the election commission to extend the deadline for the submission of the names under the proportional election category,” said party spokesperson Agni Sapkota.

He said that party will support the coalition government to be formed by the Nepali Congress, the largest party. But the Nepali Congress and the second largest party Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) are working to bring the Maoist party in the government so that it will make the constitution drafting process easy.

The Maoist party which emerged as a largest political force of the country faced a humiliating loss in November 19 elections as it just secured 80 seats out of the 601-member constituent assembly.

The Nepali Congress, a centrist party that secured the first position in the election, is preparing to form a new government.

The country’s peace and constitution writing process will be complete only when the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) joins the process.

Last week, a top Chinese leader asked the Maoists in Nepal to accept the election results and join the constitution writing process to ensure progress and peace in the country.

Ai Ping, the vice-minister of the international department of Communist Party of China (CPC), held separate meetings with UCPN-Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-Maoist leader Mohan Baidya and said that the message from China was loud and clear: get involved in the constitution writing process.

Ping also asked Dahal to accept the election results. “Our observation is that the people of Nepal have given the mandate that parties should move ahead by forging consensus,” Dahal’s aide Chudamani Khadka quoted the Chinese leader as saying.

The UCPN-M chairman told the Chinese vice-minister that his party “will play a constructive role in the new constituent assembly to achieve the task of writing the constitution and concluding the peace process”.

Claiming that the votes were rigged, the UCPN-M had taken a tough stance to not become a part of the 601-member constituent assembly until an independent probe commission was set up, putting the process of drafting the country’s constitution at risk.

“We apprised the envoy and the vice-minister of the post-election developments, our party’s commitment to write the constitution and our stance on election results,” UCPN-M leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.

Ping also wanted to know what role the CPN-M could play in the coming days and said that it would be better to incorporate all the factions in the constitution drafting process.

“It’s up to the CPN-M how it joins the process. But it is critical for the party to take part in this process and play a positive role to help put the country on the path to peaceful, stable and prosperous future. It’s up to you whether you do this through the new assembly or from outside it,” a CPN-M leader quoted Ping as saying.

The Maoists fought an insurgency against government troops from 1996 to 2006, joined a peace process and participated in elections in 2008 that they dominated. Many of their fighters joined the national army.

The new assembly is charged with writing the country’s constitution, a task the previous assembly was unable to complete after it became deadlocked over whether to adopt a parliamentary or presidential system of government, and whether ethnicity or geography should be used to divide the country into states.