By IANS
Kathmandu : The uncertainty over Nepal’s critical Nov 22 election and the peace process lifted considerably Thursday after Nepal’s ruling parties held a successful round of dialogue with the Maoist guerrillas, who were reportedly positive towards the polls.
The rebels, who had walked out of the government this month and begun a new “people’s revolt” to disrupt the constituent assembly election, regarded as a key step in restoring peace in Nepal, are now positive towards the polls, a top political leader said.
“After (prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s) Nepali Congress party (Wednesday) said it was committed to a federal republic, the Maoists’ fears have been allayed,” Madhav Kumar Nepal, chief of the Communist party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, told journalists after the meeting.
In return for the Maoists’ participation in the election and calling off their protest programme, the ruling parties are ready to hold a mass meeting and pledge to abolish the country’s 238-year-old monarchy, the Nepal government said.
The Maoists revolted after the parties refused to heed their demand to scrap King Gyanendra’s throne before the election to the constituent assembly. They were also demanding a proportional electoral method instead of the mixed method adopted for the November polls.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his Nepali Congress party refused to employ a constitutional provision and abolish monarchy through parliament, saying the international community may not consider it legitimate. But faced with the threat to the election from the Maoists’ boycott and picketing threats,The Nepali Congress gave in.
However, the parties are opposing the Maoists’ demand for proportional representation in the assembly, and the issue would be negotiated again at a second meeting Friday.
With 55 days left for the election, the agreement comes as a shot in the arms for Nepal’s Election Commission that had feared unrest on Sunday, the day for filing nominations when the Maoists called for picketing of all district administration offices.
However, it is an additional blow for embattled King Gyanendra, who saw his chance of retaining the crown ebbing away since Wednesday, when the Nepali Congress that earlier supported constitutional monarchy decided to push for a federal republic.
Ironically, hours earlier, Nepal’s Supreme Court had given a ray of hope to the royalists.
A divided bench of five judges ruled that royalist ministers, banned by a commission from taking part in the November election, would be eligible to contest.
Three judges upturned the commission decision and gave the royalist ministers a go-ahead, overriding the note of dissent by the remaining two judges.
Had the king’s fate been left to the election, there was a possibility that he could scrape through.
But if the decision is left to post-poll parliament, it would be a certainty that the historic snake throne would become a museum exhibit.
However, with uncertainty ruling Nepal’s politics and political parties, and the Maoists yet to reach an understanding on the election method, there is still a faint ray of hope left for the palace till Thursday’s crucial meeting.