Parliament failed to elect a prime minister once again and set a new date for a third election on 2 August.

CA chair Subash Nembang announced the results of voting at 8 pm but a non-outcome was expected as the Madhesi alliance and the UML had decided to abstain from voting. Without their participation, it was impossible for either of the candidates, Pushpa Kamal Dahal of UCPN (Maoist) or Ram Chandra Poudel of NC, to secure the required majority. The UML decided to abstain from the election as it failed to garner a two-third majority for the party chairman Jhalanath Khanal for Wednesday’s election. The required number for a simple majority is 301.

Maoist candidate Dahal received only 241 votes in his favour while 113 members voted against him and 221 abstained. NC candidate Ram Chandra Poudel received 123 votes in his favour. 241 lawmakers voted against him and 214 abstained. There were 572 members present in the house today.

As the top leaders engaged in negotiating deals with Madehsi and other fringe party leaders, CA members were seen chatting with each other on the lawn outside parliament all day long. The house session was delayed by seven hours.

About 200 journalists from the national and international media were seen waiting for the session to begin. Television and radio crews reached the premises at noon to organise their live broadcasts.

There will be another election on Monday between the Maoist and NC candidates, Dahal and Poudel.

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With the Madhesi alliance’s decision to abstain from voting on Friday’s election for the post of prime minister, the delayed parliament session scheduled for today is unlikely to be able to elect a new PM.

Today’s meeting of the alliance decided not to participate in the election until assured its demands will be met. The alliance made public its charter of demands, which includes the demand of a Madhesi autonomous region with the right to self-determination, implementation of past agreements, and a guarantee of
28 per cent Madhesis in security, education and government services. They have demanded PLA management within four months and the beginning of the process of debarracking the YCL within a week.

The alliance turned down the Maoists’ written request to start talks and replied that they could sit for dialogue from Sunday.

The UCPN (Maoist) requires only 64 seats to make up a simple majority in parliament. Fringe parties command 67 votes, which would also be enough, but it is unlikely all would vote for the Maoists. In the last election for PM on Wednesday, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (8 MPs) and and Janashakti Party (3 MPs) voted for the NC candidate, Ram Chandra Poudel.

The NC requires 187 votes, which it can only obtain with the support of the UML and the fringe parties. As the UML has already decided to abstain, the NC has no chance of winning the election in this round.

The Parliamentary Advisory Committee is currently holding a meeting to set another election date in the event of the failure of parliament to decide on a PM today.

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Parliament has announced a re-election for the post of prime minister on Friday as both candidates, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel, failed to obtain the required majority during Wednesday’s delayed election.

Maoist candidate Dahal obtained 242 votes from the 592 members present in the house while 114 members voted against him and 236 abstained. NC candidate Ram Chandra Poudel received 124 votes in his favour from the 587 members present. 235 lawmakers voted against him and 228 abstained. The required number for a simple majority is 301.

The UML had fielded party chairman Jhalanath Khanal on condition that he garnered a two thirds majority, or 401 seats, before the election. The meeting of the UCPN (Maoist) on Wednesday morning, too, had decided to support Khanal if he managed to secure a two thirds majority before voting. As the Madhesi alliance and other fringe parties declared they would stay neutral, this was not going to be possible, and the UML withdrew its nomination of Khanal.

Since the UML has withdrawn from the race for the prime ministerial post, the Maoists and the NC will contest the second round of voting on Friday. After the election, Khanal said the UML would participate in the second round only if there is a national unity government.

The Madhesi alliance still holds the key to the post of prime minister, as they have a total of 82 seats. The Maoists already have 237 seats in parliament. Winning the confidence of the Madhesi alliance will be enough for them to form a majority government. However, the NC has only 114 seats and would require the support of both the UML and the Madhesi alliance.

Since the outgoing government was a coalition of 22 parties, NC will try to revive this alliance. Observers say that since the Madhesi parties have a number of former NC leaders in their ranks, they may well support the NC. Some Madhesi leaders have even said they would feel comfortable with a democratic alliance with the NC and the UML. It has been surmised that this was one of the reasons they decided to abstain from today’s voting.

However, the Madhesi alliance has underlined the need for a national consensus. “There is no doubt about the capability and quality of these candidates but we found them to be against consensus,” TMLP leader Hridayesh Tripathi complained in parliament before voting. “We won’t vote until assured that they will implement the past agreements with the Madhesis.”

Leaders of the major parties too reiterated the need for a national unity government. Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Nepal claimed he had resigned despite holding a majority to pave the way for a national unity government. This explained why Khanal, who had criticised the majority government led by Nepal, was asked to garner a two-thirds majority as a condition for leading the next government.

Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai admitted that the political parties had failed to deliver on their promises to write a new constitution and conclude the peace process in two years. “It all began when we opted for a majority system. But only a consensus government can take this process to a logical conclusion,” he said.

But a consensus government is highly unlikely, given that the failure of the parties to achieve this has already pushed them towards elections for a majority government.

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The UML central committee meeting on Tuesday concluded they would vie for the post of prime minister and proposed party chairman Jhalanath Khanal as their candidate for the post of prime minister, provided he would make an effort to forge a consensus for a national unity government.

The party’s Monday meeting failed to come to a decision as the members were divided on whether to support an NC candidate or to present a candidate of their own. Khanal’s opponents within the UML had argued there was no point leading a new coalition after forcing the resignation of the Madhav Nepal-led government. But Khanal’s supporters were encouraged by the Maoist decision to support Khanal instead of fielding their own candidate.

However, by the time the UML meeting concluded, the Maoists’ meeting had also approved party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as their candidate for PM. The meeting also took the decision to support Khanal if Dahal failed to garner the required majority to form a government.

The Maoists and the UML can make up a majority to form a government. As they have both fielded candidates, they are expected to continue to lobby for the post of prime minister until the election slated for tomorrow. “If no candidate receives a clear majority, there will be another election,” said Mukunda Sharma, spokesperson of the parliamentary secretariat. “Then the Parliamentary Business Committee will have to set another election date.”

Khanal, Dahal, and Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress registered their nominations at the parliamentary secretariat on Tuesday evening. Madhav Nepal nominated Khanal, seconded by deputy Parliamentary party leader Bishnu Poudel. Similarly, Dahal was nominated by his deputy Narayan Kaji Shrestha and seconded by Baburam Bhattarai. Sher Bahadur Deuba nominated Poudel, who was seconded by general secretary KB Gurung.

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As the deadline to register nominations for the post of prime minister approaches, the groundwork has begun to delay the election by three weeks.

As the deadline to register nominations for the post of prime minister approaches, the groundwork has begun to delay the election by three weeks.

Former lawmaker and NC leader Amaresh Kumar Jha met with top Maoist leaders and CA Chair Subas Chandra Nembang to discuss delaying the election to work towards a consensus government. In an interview with Kantipur FM, Jha said Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai were positive about the idea.

“A consensus government is the need of the hour to complete the peace process and write a new constitution,” he said. “There should be a way to reach a consensus for a national government.”

As the parties had failed to form a national consensus government, the president had asked parliament to form a majority government as per Article 38 of the Interim Constitution.

Jha said he had already consulted with CA Chair Subas Nembang. “The election can be postponed if political parties do not register their nominations today,” he said, quoting Nembang.

Registration of nominations for the post of prime minister opened at the parliamentary secretariat at 11 am today, 24 hours before the election was slated to take place. The deadline for nominations is 5 pm today.

However, the UCPN (Maoist) and UML are still holding internal meetings in their respective party offices to finalise their candidate for the post. Only NC has approved Ram Chandra Poudel as its candidate for the post, but despite claiming that it should lead the next government, NC is unlikely to be able to garner enough support.

As of 1pm, only three lawmakers have taken nomination forms on behalf of their parties from the parliamentary secretariat: NC chief whip Laxman Ghimire, Chure Bhavar Rastriya Ekata Party Nepal lawmaker Keshav Mainali and Dalit Janjati Party lawmaker Bishwendra Paswan. The latter two parties only have one parliamentary seat each.

Secretariat spokesperson Mukunda Sharma said the election can be postponed only if no nomination is made within the stipulated time. According to him, no party has registered its nomination.

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President Ram Baran Yadav extended the deadline for the formation of a national consensus government by five days at the request of political parties in the CA on Wednesday.

Yadav had given the parties a week’s time to form a national consensus government after Madhav Nepal resigned as premier last week. However, several rounds of talks failed to yield any results.

An all-party meeting held in the CA building this afternoon concluded that more time was needed to reach an agreement on a consensus government and decided to ask the president to extend the deadline. Senior leaders approached the president with a formal request to extend the deadline in the evening at his office, Shital Niwas.

After meeting with the president, UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal told reporters that the parties would be able to form a consensus government within the extended deadline. “Given the progress made in the past week, we can easily form the government soon,” he said.

However, the political parties have not budged from their respective stances and continue to blame each other for the delay. As the largest party in the CA, the Maoists are claiming they should lead the new government, but the NC and UML in particular are demanding that the Maoists dismantle their army camps before becoming part of a new coalition.

The political parties agreed on consensus politics four years ago, but subsequent majority governments led by the Maoists and then the UML failed to take the peace process any further. If the deadline is missed again, the president can call upon the parliamentary parties to form a majority government as per article 38 of the Interim Constitution. President Ram Baran Yadav extended the deadline for the formation of a national consensus government by five days at the request of political parties.

President Ram Baran Yadav extended the deadline for the formation of a national consensus government by five days at the request of political parties in the CA on Wednesday.

Yadav had given the parties a week’s time to form a national consensus government after Madhav Nepal resigned as premier last week. However, several rounds of talks failed to yield any results.

An all-party meeting held in the CA building this afternoon concluded that more time was needed to reach an agreement on a consensus government and decided to ask the president to extend the deadline. Senior leaders approached the president with a formal request to extend the deadline in the evening at his office, Shital Niwas.

After meeting with the president, UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal told reporters that the parties would be able to form a consensus government within the extended deadline. “Given the progress made in the past week, we can easily form the government soon,” he said.

However, the political parties have not budged from their respective stances and continue to blame each other for the delay. As the largest party in the CA, the Maoists are claiming they should lead the new government, but the NC and UML in particular are demanding that the Maoists dismantle their army camps before becoming part of a new coalition.

The political parties agreed on consensus politics four years ago, but subsequent majority governments led by the Maoists and then the UML failed to take the peace process any further. If the deadline is missed again, the president can call upon the parliamentary parties to form a majority government as per article 38 of the Interim Constitution.

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Senior NC leader Bal Bahadur Rai passed away on Sunday.

This commentary from senior NC leader Bal Bahadur Rai was published in Himal Khabarpatrika 30 June-16 July. It was dictated from his hospital bed ten days before he died on Sunday.

All the leaders of all the parties acknowledge that there is no alternative to consensus politics. Yet they can’t get themselves to rise above personal and party interests. They are prisoners of their own leadership ambitions.

The biggest party in the CA, the Maoists, instead of cooperating, is playing dishonest games. It has repeatedly failed to honour its past commitments, and muddied the political waters to allow all kinds of extremist and reactionary groups to take root. It was always necessary to get the Maoists on board for the management of their fighters, return of property and the dissolution of the YCL, and it still is. But past agreements have been just for show. There is little chance the Maoists can get into government without fulfilling these commitments.

The Maoists can’t hide the fact that all levels of their party hierarchy are either abetting or doing nothing to stop their warlike involvement in kidnapping for ransom, murders, extortion, beatings, and threats. At one time, we also waged an armed struggle for democracy, but we never made the people suffer. We fought the enemy, whereas the Maoists fought against the people. In the name of revolution, they killed and terrorised the people. This isn’t politics, it’s banditry. Mao Zedong himself said don’t even take a needle from the people, but the party that is waging havoc in Mao’s name in Nepal has forgotten all that.

The Maoist idea of 14 provinces is not viable and will lead to the fragmentation of the Nepali nation. There should never be more than six provinces and under no circumstance should they be demarcated along ethnic lines. The Maoists only used the ethnic card to help recruitment during the war. Just look at Gopal Kirati. The Maoists refused to give him an important portfolio when they were in power. They said he couldn’t handle it, so they fabricated a new Ministry of Culture to make Gopal a token minister. But even an old man like me served 19 times as caretaker prime minister under successive Nepali Congress governments.

The Maoist promise to give marginalised ethnic groups, Madhesis, women and Dalits rights is just eyewash. And even if they wanted to give them rights, the Maoists would bungle it: just look at the way they have handled the ethnic state councils.

To be sure, Nepal’s historically marginalised groups need to be liberated, they have to be given equal rights and opportunities. Nepal is hugely diverse and the groups need to be represented proportionately. But in doing that we shouldn’t disturb the traditional harmony of our diversity, and not threaten the country’s unity.

The path we have to take now should allow any Nepali, be they Rais, Limbus, Tamangs, Magars, Gurungs, Yadavs or Biswokarmas, the chance to be prime minister. Pushpa Kamal Dahal promises to give the Limbus a Limbuwan, the Rais a Khambuwan, the Magars a Magarat, the Tharus a Tharuhat, the Gurungs a Tamuwan, but will he ever propose to give the prime ministership to Srijabegu Limbu, Gopal Kirati, Arasi Chaudhary, Rambahadur Thapa Magar, or Deb Gurung?

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