Democracy For Nepal: Majority government

Showing posts with label Majority government. Show all posts

Friday, May 15, 2009

MJF: That Other Winner Of The April 2008 Election

There were two primary victors to the April 2008 election. One, the Maoists. Two, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum. The Maoists ruled for a year. Now it is the MJF's turn.

MJF stakes claim on govt leadership NepalNews

The TMDP and the SP have to now join the MJF bandwagon.

In the early 1990s, Girija Koirala chose to bring down his own party's clear majority government, and split his Nepali Congress party, and decided to take the country to premature midterm elections and went on to sow the seeds of a civil war rather than step down and let a Madhesi Mahendra Narayan Nidhi become Prime Minister.

Both Prachanda and Girija are Bahun, but I get the impression Prachanda is less prejudiced against Madhesis than Girija. Both Bahun also happen to be Teraiwasi. Girija is from Biratnagar, and Prachanda is from Chitwan.

A MJF-TMDP-SP coalition with outside support from the Maoists: that is all it will take to form a government at this juncture. It is called parliamentary arithmetic.

I also want Katuwal to vacate the scene at the earliest. I also want the eight Brigadier Generals retired as soon as possible. Recruiting 3,000 fresh soldiers into the Nepal Army was the peace time Dhoramba. That was a move designed to scuttle the peace process.

The Nepali Congress and the UML were the two biggest losers of the April 2008 election. It would make no sense for them to come into power at this juncture.

I was hoping the Maoist-UML-MJF-SP government would last its full term. But it did not quite work out that way. But I am still for political stability. I am for a directly elected president. We can't have a new government every year.

And if the Maoists play a constructive role in the constitution writing process, there is no reason why they should not do well for the election scheduled for next year.

They have proven they can be a party in power. Now let them prove for a year they can also be a party in the paliament, but not in power.

The Maoists are more enlightened than the Nepali Congress and the UML on federalism. A MJF-TMDP-SP-Maoist alliance will be most needed when it is time to make the final decisions on federalism. This government formation is dress rehearsal.

Friday, May 08, 2009

The President Should Declare An Emergency

Phone Marathon II (2005)
Phone Marathon: Called Up Delhi (2005)

If the parliament will not bring forth a new government - either a majority government or an all party government - by the deadline - tomorrow - there will be but one option left: presidential rule. The president will have to go ahead and declare an emergency.

The emergency rule would last six months.
No political leader would be arrested.
Freedom of speech will stay intact.
Right to peaceful assembly will stay intact.
After six months the parliament will have the option again to bring forth either a majority government or an all party government.

Three Big Advantages

The president gets to run the country. He need not assemble his cabinet from inside the parliament. He can assemble a team of technocrats.
The political parties and the parliament get to work on a new constitution, which is what they were elected to do in the first place.
The country gets a taste of an executive presidency which is what we should shoot for in a new constitution. We don't need a new government every year. We want a directly elected president who stays in power for four years.

In The News

UML CC meet begins; leadership divided over formation of new govt NepalNews
NA refutes media reports
Sushil wants re-verification of Maoist combatants
'Woman should lead new govt'
New govt unlikely within given time
Envoys call on PM, Koirala
PM's address to the nation (May 04 09)

MJF not to claim for PM
Maoist politburo for more protests to revert President's move
Prez consults CA chairman on procedure of appointing new PM

Nepal's Maoist double-cross

Monday, May 04, 2009

Lesson For Maoists: Rule Of Law

Image via Wikipedia

Prachanda's Procedural Flaw

The Maoist failure to oust Katuwal has not been a failure of the principle of civilian supremacy over the military.

The parliament can impeach the president, but not with one third of the vote, which is what the Maoists have. The parliament can impeach the army chief. The majority government had the option to get the parliament to pass a resolution by majority vote saying the civilian government wanted to oust the army chief. There was no effort made in that direction.

A majority government with unanimous voice could have got rid of Katuwal. But the Maoists did not have the support of any of the coalition partners. At that point the right thing to do for Prachanda was to withdraw his intent to oust Katuwal.

But even if the majority government had unanimously decided to oust Katuwal, the president, as the constitutional chief and the titular head of the army, would have had the option to send the decision back to the cabinet for reconsideration, then the cabinet would have had the option to resend it, and at that point the president would have had to pass it on to the army chief. But Prachanda not only did not seek support from his coalition partners, he did not feel the need to forward his decision letter to the president to be forwarded to the army chief. He bypassed the president. Calling him up on the phone to inform does not count.

Decision To Resign, A Good One

Prachanda decided to resign instead of possibly facing a vote of no confidence. That was a good one. His party has filed a case against the president in the Supreme Court. That shows a desire to appreciate the rule of law. But the right political move would have been to try and impeach the president. They must know they don't have the numbers. So they did not even try. And if you have already registered a case against the president with the Supreme Court, whey then plan on street protests? Let the law take its course.

Prachanda's Party Failed Prachanda

His party let him down. They put undue pressure on him. He could not resist the pressure from his party to go relentlessly after the army chief. That cost them power.

Katuwal Not The Impediment To Army Integration

Prachanda and the Maoists have falsely assumed that the army chief stands in the way of army integration. The two armies will be integrated after the six biggest parties in the parliament will agree on a formula for integration. And the other parties will not agree on the idea as long as the YCL keeps misbehaving. The YCL has the option to either disband, or become a purely political organization. They can't walk around like Hitler's Brown Shirts. Civilizing the YCL is the homework the Maoists need to do as a party if they want to make progress on the issue of army integration.

Parliamentary Supremacy

On thorny issues like land reform and army integration the best idea would be to let there be full fledged debates and discussions on the topics in the parliament. Party chiefs are too used to usurping the power of the parliament. Open parliamentary debates have to take the place of smoke filled room politics.

India?

India is not the reason all of his coalition partners deserted Prachanda. They deserted him because they kept telling him he does not have their support to oust the army chief, but he did not listen to them, so they deserted him.

Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal

In The News

Maoists to launch agitation from House and street NepalNews
President accepts PM's resignation
Prime Minister Dahal resigns slamming Prez's move
'All-party' meet on Tuesday; Khanal says UML ready to lead new govt
Govt terms prez’s move ‘unconstitutional’
President Yadav defends his move
Maoists to challenge President's move in court; declare protests in streets, parliament

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