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Ram Baran Yadav Is Not An Executive President
The constituent assembly is not coming back. It is dead. (Is CA Revival Possible?) It is not coming back even if all major political parties come to an agreement to revive it, not that that consensus is happening.
And so all election related ordinances will have to be passed on from the Prime Minister to the president. It would be best if the NC and the UML cooperated. But their demand that the current government resign before anything can be talked about is unreasonable.
A fair consensus government would have to be lead by Baburam Bhattarai since he represents what was the largest party in the last assembly. And so if an election government of non political people is not an option, then the NC and the UML joining the current government is a good option. But I don't see them doing that.
The two are sore losers who did everything unconstitutional and undemocratic to make sure the country was deprived a federal constitution. So if they will not join the current government to form an all party government to take the country to a new election chances are they might not even cooperate on election related laws.
And here the president does not have the option to make moves. Either the political parties come to consensus on the major issues, or the current Prime Minister pass on the necessary ordinances. The president has to sign them. He is not an executive president. It is not for the president to seek consensus among political parties. That is the job of the Prime Minister. And if the Prime Minister fails to get that consensus, well, the country already has a government in place. The business of governance has to go on.
The ruling Federal Democratic Republican Alliance is capable of showing street strength. It could organize street demonstrations. What are the NC and the UML thinking?
Some polarization is necessary. Otherwise why bother having elections? The next election is in essence a referendum on two different, competing visions on what shape Nepal's federalism should take. The NC, the UML and the rightist parties have one way of looking at it. They don't want federalism, but if there is to be federalism, they want it to be fake, cosmetic. The Maoist, Madhesi and the Janajati parties have a different vision. They are for genuine federalism. Nepal is a mosaic of diversity. Only federalism can speak to that ground reality.
The two visions should necessarily compete.
Baburam Bhattarai was right after all. If the president had done his job and not got in the way of the election ordinances the country might have seen elections in November. But April is not too late.
The best course for the country is for the Prime Minister to bring forth election ordinances and for the president to sign them, and make elections happen in April 2013.
