By Xinhua,
Kathmandu : None of the 25 newly elected political parties to the Constituent Assembly (CA) have expressed support to giving continuity to monarchy, local newspaper The Rising Nepal reported on Monday.
Even some small parties recognized widely as pro-royalist did not voice support to give continuity of any kind to monarchy, saidthe report.
“We should give top priority to national integrity while deciding on the issue,” said Kunti Shahi, CA member of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal led by Kamal Thapa, former home minister under King Gyanendra’s direct rule.
The 25 parties poised to declare the country a republic within a couple of weeks met Sunday in a formal sitting for the first time to discuss mainly the CA procedures and formation of the new government.
All the representatives of the 25 parties mandated to write the new constitution echoed with a single voice for all-party consensus both for writing the constitution and forming the new government.
Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, who chaired the meeting, said “The constitution should be written, forging consensus among all small and big parties.” He promised that they would not take any decision without seeking the consensus of even the smaller parties.
Ram Chandra Paudel, Nepali Congress vice president and minister for Peace and Reconstruction said “We do not have any option other than to forge consensus for running the country and writing the constitution.”
Speaker Subash Nemwang said that all-party consensus was a must for taking any important decision while writing the new constitution and forming the new government as per the specified provision of the Interim Constitution.
“Technical preparations were on to make arrangements for holding the CA meetings and the major political parties were locked in consultations to determine the rules for the CA meetings,” Nemwang said.