By IANS
Kathmandu : Rejecting Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s proposal to withdraw their demands from parliament and avert a confrontation, Nepal’s Maoists are Monday pressing for a vote in the house — which is likely to plunge the nation into another crisis.
The parliamentary party of the Maoists as well Koirala’s Nepali Congress began separate meetings in the morning ahead of a critical debate in the house.
The guerrillas are demanding the immediate abolition of King Gyanendra’s throne without waiting for an election. They also want a fully proportional election system instead of a mixed one since that is likely to improve their poll prospects.
Koirala, however, has been rejecting both since September, when the rebels quit the government and began opposing the election, causing it to be postponed indefinitely from Nov 22.
Koirala, whose leadership has been under a cloud both at home and abroad for failing to hold the critical constituent assembly election twice, has been warned by the international community that his credibility would erode further if Nepal’s parliament took a decision on monarchy.
They have been urging him to hold the election at the earliest instead.
The wily premier refuses to adopt a fully proportional election system as it would dent his party’s vote bank and benefit the Maoists as well as his traditional rival, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML).
The deadlock lasted for nearly a month with a vote looming large.
The guerrillas would need two-third votes in the house, which has 327 MPs, to implement their demands. It is virtually impossible since they have only 87 MPs’ support so far, including 84 of their own.
To get the required 218 votes, they need to win over a large number of legislators from Koirala’s Nepali Congress, that is the biggest in parliament with 132 MPs.
However, even if Koirala wins the vote, he loses.
The vote may throw up surprises with the UML siding with the Maoists, which will show up the rift in the ruling coalition as well as dimming trust in Koirala’s leadership.
Also, if they lose, the Maoists have threatened to start a street revolt.
If they do so, Koirala has no chance of holding an election and would face rising calls for his exit.
Shambhu Thapa, legal expert and one of the framers of the current constitution, predicts a crisis at the worst and a continued impasse at the best.
“The Maoists began the debate knowing fully well they would lose the vote,” Thapa, former chief of Nepal Bar Association, told IANS. “It’s simply a time-wasting ploy to put off the constituent assembly election.”
Thapa predicts the Maoists would lose the vote in parliament and would wait till Nov 19, when the regular session of the house starts, to raise the demands afresh.
“There is only one way to break the deadlock,” the veteran lawyer said. “Somebody has to surrender.”