A New Chapter of Democracy About to Radicalize Nepal
Prakash Bom
July 18, 2008
The best of democracy is the practice of electoral competition. The political consensus driven democratic rule in a multiparty democracy is necessary when the nation´s electoral institutions either are politically dismantled or had been suspended by the coup d'état but reinstated with the protests of the political parties such as in the recent history of Nepal during April Uprising or during the revolution such as French Revolution and American.
But the overbearing relevancy of such practice of political party (s) based political consensus must be minimized to necessity once nation has successfully established the electoral institutions of democracy. In Nepal´s case, therefore, since the historic Constituent Assembly elections have successfully established the fundamental electoral institution of democracy – Constituent Assembly, the imperious practice of SPA dominated political consensus must set its off-limit for up to the political consultation. But the final verdict must be achieved with the ballots of Constituent Assembly.
That´s why electing the first president of Federal Democratic Republic Nepal has become absolutely necessary with the ballot of Constituent Assembly that can radicalize the culture of democracy with a new chapter in the history of Nepal. This ought to be the spirit and culture of democracy in days to come for Nepali political parties to comply with. Those political parties, particularly Nepali Congress and UML, which prefer to keep their dogmatic, can no longer continue with their status quo of consensus by overriding electoral power of Constituent Assembly. The practice of consensus of political party(s) particularly for all political appointments must be transformed by electing qualified candidates with the competitive electoral process.
What twelve years of democracy had done to practice of electoral democracy under the rule of Nepali Congress and UML was thoroughly marginalized all expect for the party based consensus for political appointments by turning the people´s representatives of Parliament literally into the rubberstamp. This is what Nepali Congress and UML leaders, cadres and supporters (high ranking government employees and diplomats) would like to continue wishfully. But this is what Nepal can no longer afford because it demands people´s representatives scrutinize the process in order to find the skillful and proficient Nepali citizens to take the responsibility of nation building process beyond the greed of the party politics. The current electoral phenomena for electing the president and the vice president through the competitive electoral processes is what can radicalize world´s youngest federal democratic republic of Nepal with the culture of electoral democracy beyond party (s) based dictatorial.
This is the challenge that Maoist party as major political party in Constituent Assembly has for institutionalizing fair and competitive electoral democratic culture for processing ballot beyond the party politics. This could only be achieved possibly if Maoist can prioritize national interest for the radical socio-political and economic transformation by reasonably minimizing its own party´s interest for political power. If not the status quo driven political parties, particularly NC and UML will not let Maoist succeed with the Maoists´ dictatorial politics that can disproportionate their parties´ bargaining-chips for power. After all, the bargaining-chips are inevitable in politics and if the solutions to the socio-political and economic crises do not address the conscience of the majority then party politics becomes nastily greedy.
This is exactly what happened with the process of electing the first president. It was Maoist who first made this process complicated prematurely expressing Maoist party wish to make Maoist chairman the first president. This was not relevant at all and indeed such a public statement had violated the protocol of political consensus beyond the code of conduct as a member of SPA. Of course, the trend of Nepali political parties can by no means be free of worshipping their tribal chief and Nepali Congress and UML have not yet transcended themselves to refrain from wishing their chiefs the first president of republic Nepal. This suggests that Nepali political parties have not yet become sophisticated philosophically to be matured democrats.
Impact of electing right presidential candidate of infant federal democratic republic:
There is still chance for political consensus to elect right candidate from among the list of different political parties´ nominees. First of all, the representatives of Constituent Assembly have to understand the fact that their fundamental responsibility is to draft a constitution that corresponds with the norms and principle of the federal democratic republic government structures. Therefore, they have above all their ethical responsibility to the nation and people of Nepal. Their commitment to their respective political party is secondary if their party policy undermines the norms and principle of democracy in terms of guaranteeing civil liberty and protecting civil rights of people of Nepal. Therefore, their votes in the Constituent Assembly are critical in electing the first president of federal democratic republic Nepal.
We all know that none of these nominees are democratically processed by intra-party electoral mechanism with the vote of ordinary members of each party. But they all are hand picked by the leaders of each political party with the ruling of one or more dominant leaders. The most critical question, at this point in the democratic history of Nepal is how to balance the political power electing the president who will play key role in drafting the constitution. Now this responsibility has come to political leaderships of main political parties to guide their representatives to elect the president who can balance the political power among main political parties basically in drafting the constitution.
Since Nepali Congress and UML have failed in their pursuit to nominate their party chiefs because GP Koirala would not compete and MK Nepal would not get enough votes to be elected without the political consensus of three major parties. Now among all nominees I think Dr. Ram Baran Yadav could be the best candidate for the president to balance the political power among main political parties in Constituent Assembly in respect to the fundamental objectives of Constituent Assembly.
Both Maoist nominees Ram Raja Prasad Singh (president) and Shanta Shrestha (vice president) are all good candidates with their personal history and integrity. But their candidacy might put Maoist in difficult position in forming a stable government without NC and UML parties´ coalition. There are many issues that Maoist cannot possibly be able to endorse without their consensus. It is not a joke to form a new government excluding main political parties in the Constituent Assembly. It has now become the ethical responsibility of representatives of Constituent Assembly to consider the nation´s political situation that is not stable to be run alone by the Maoist as a major political party without simple majority. Therefore, in order to form a coalition government Constituent Assembly has to elect such a candidate who can influence formation of a coalition government under the leadership of Maoist as major political party.
Politically, UML leaderships have failed more than NC because it was the moral responsibility of UML to recommend GP Koirala as one of the main members of SPA for nomination in the beginning once Maoist had gaven up their bet on the president. If not it should have better come up with new approach than claiming greedily its stake in order to worship their chief without sincerely considering the popular sentiment of electorates. Such political behavior has proved that UML top leaders dominate the party without the consensus of their cadres and supporters. It is the same scenarios with NC crowded up by incapable old-hack status quo drunken leaders who forcefully put capable young leaders aside.
There is still the chance for main political parties to play a significant role in balancing the political power for the sake of nation and its infant democracy for establishing institutions of federal democratic republic political system. The role they can play now is with the representatives of Constituent Assembly in moral and individual level for sake of the nation and democracy. It will be unfortunate for the nation if Maoist forms a new government without the coalition of UML and NC. Consequently, the entire process of drafting constitution will take out its time-frame. The future of the nation will be unpredictable sliding rapidly towards the status of a failed nation.
But the overbearing relevancy of such practice of political party (s) based political consensus must be minimized to necessity once nation has successfully established the electoral institutions of democracy. In Nepal´s case, therefore, since the historic Constituent Assembly elections have successfully established the fundamental electoral institution of democracy – Constituent Assembly, the imperious practice of SPA dominated political consensus must set its off-limit for up to the political consultation. But the final verdict must be achieved with the ballots of Constituent Assembly.
That´s why electing the first president of Federal Democratic Republic Nepal has become absolutely necessary with the ballot of Constituent Assembly that can radicalize the culture of democracy with a new chapter in the history of Nepal. This ought to be the spirit and culture of democracy in days to come for Nepali political parties to comply with. Those political parties, particularly Nepali Congress and UML, which prefer to keep their dogmatic, can no longer continue with their status quo of consensus by overriding electoral power of Constituent Assembly. The practice of consensus of political party(s) particularly for all political appointments must be transformed by electing qualified candidates with the competitive electoral process.
What twelve years of democracy had done to practice of electoral democracy under the rule of Nepali Congress and UML was thoroughly marginalized all expect for the party based consensus for political appointments by turning the people´s representatives of Parliament literally into the rubberstamp. This is what Nepali Congress and UML leaders, cadres and supporters (high ranking government employees and diplomats) would like to continue wishfully. But this is what Nepal can no longer afford because it demands people´s representatives scrutinize the process in order to find the skillful and proficient Nepali citizens to take the responsibility of nation building process beyond the greed of the party politics. The current electoral phenomena for electing the president and the vice president through the competitive electoral processes is what can radicalize world´s youngest federal democratic republic of Nepal with the culture of electoral democracy beyond party (s) based dictatorial.
This is the challenge that Maoist party as major political party in Constituent Assembly has for institutionalizing fair and competitive electoral democratic culture for processing ballot beyond the party politics. This could only be achieved possibly if Maoist can prioritize national interest for the radical socio-political and economic transformation by reasonably minimizing its own party´s interest for political power. If not the status quo driven political parties, particularly NC and UML will not let Maoist succeed with the Maoists´ dictatorial politics that can disproportionate their parties´ bargaining-chips for power. After all, the bargaining-chips are inevitable in politics and if the solutions to the socio-political and economic crises do not address the conscience of the majority then party politics becomes nastily greedy.
This is exactly what happened with the process of electing the first president. It was Maoist who first made this process complicated prematurely expressing Maoist party wish to make Maoist chairman the first president. This was not relevant at all and indeed such a public statement had violated the protocol of political consensus beyond the code of conduct as a member of SPA. Of course, the trend of Nepali political parties can by no means be free of worshipping their tribal chief and Nepali Congress and UML have not yet transcended themselves to refrain from wishing their chiefs the first president of republic Nepal. This suggests that Nepali political parties have not yet become sophisticated philosophically to be matured democrats.
Impact of electing right presidential candidate of infant federal democratic republic:
There is still chance for political consensus to elect right candidate from among the list of different political parties´ nominees. First of all, the representatives of Constituent Assembly have to understand the fact that their fundamental responsibility is to draft a constitution that corresponds with the norms and principle of the federal democratic republic government structures. Therefore, they have above all their ethical responsibility to the nation and people of Nepal. Their commitment to their respective political party is secondary if their party policy undermines the norms and principle of democracy in terms of guaranteeing civil liberty and protecting civil rights of people of Nepal. Therefore, their votes in the Constituent Assembly are critical in electing the first president of federal democratic republic Nepal.
We all know that none of these nominees are democratically processed by intra-party electoral mechanism with the vote of ordinary members of each party. But they all are hand picked by the leaders of each political party with the ruling of one or more dominant leaders. The most critical question, at this point in the democratic history of Nepal is how to balance the political power electing the president who will play key role in drafting the constitution. Now this responsibility has come to political leaderships of main political parties to guide their representatives to elect the president who can balance the political power among main political parties basically in drafting the constitution.
Since Nepali Congress and UML have failed in their pursuit to nominate their party chiefs because GP Koirala would not compete and MK Nepal would not get enough votes to be elected without the political consensus of three major parties. Now among all nominees I think Dr. Ram Baran Yadav could be the best candidate for the president to balance the political power among main political parties in Constituent Assembly in respect to the fundamental objectives of Constituent Assembly.
Both Maoist nominees Ram Raja Prasad Singh (president) and Shanta Shrestha (vice president) are all good candidates with their personal history and integrity. But their candidacy might put Maoist in difficult position in forming a stable government without NC and UML parties´ coalition. There are many issues that Maoist cannot possibly be able to endorse without their consensus. It is not a joke to form a new government excluding main political parties in the Constituent Assembly. It has now become the ethical responsibility of representatives of Constituent Assembly to consider the nation´s political situation that is not stable to be run alone by the Maoist as a major political party without simple majority. Therefore, in order to form a coalition government Constituent Assembly has to elect such a candidate who can influence formation of a coalition government under the leadership of Maoist as major political party.
Politically, UML leaderships have failed more than NC because it was the moral responsibility of UML to recommend GP Koirala as one of the main members of SPA for nomination in the beginning once Maoist had gaven up their bet on the president. If not it should have better come up with new approach than claiming greedily its stake in order to worship their chief without sincerely considering the popular sentiment of electorates. Such political behavior has proved that UML top leaders dominate the party without the consensus of their cadres and supporters. It is the same scenarios with NC crowded up by incapable old-hack status quo drunken leaders who forcefully put capable young leaders aside.
There is still the chance for main political parties to play a significant role in balancing the political power for the sake of nation and its infant democracy for establishing institutions of federal democratic republic political system. The role they can play now is with the representatives of Constituent Assembly in moral and individual level for sake of the nation and democracy. It will be unfortunate for the nation if Maoist forms a new government without the coalition of UML and NC. Consequently, the entire process of drafting constitution will take out its time-frame. The future of the nation will be unpredictable sliding rapidly towards the status of a failed nation.