President Ram Baran Yadav unveiled the Constitution of Nepal 2015 and Chairman Subas Nembang addressed the last meeting of the Constituent Assembly.However, the events surrounding the entire process have made it amply clear that the implementation of the constitution will be fraught with challenges.
Addressing the last CA meeting, Nembang said, "Now the challenges in the implementation begin. Promulgation of a constitution is not the end of constitution-making process but a beginning of constitutional development."
Nembang seemed to be making a reference to the boycotting of the voting process on the Constitution Bill by the lawmakers from Tarai-Madhes based parties and the violent protests staged by the Madhesi people against the constitution. In the last one month of the protests, 45 people have lost their lives.
The major three political parties, who pushed for the promulgation of the new constitution, have called on the agitating forces to sit for dialogues, but the Madhes-based parties have been repeatedly demanding withdrawal of curfew as well as Nepal Army from the riot-hit area.
The major three parties tried to have Madhesi People's Right Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) on board the process until Sunday evening, but talks faltered over some disagreements.
"Unless the major three parties are willing to amend the new constitution and show some flexibility in negotiations with the disgruntled forces, bringing them back into the political process will be a tough task," said advocate Sunil Kumar Pokharel, general secretary of Nepal Bar Association.
"Madhesis and Tharus, the two major communities, are not happy with the promulgation. It would be better if the major three political parties address the agendas of disgruntled forces and amend the constitution before electing a new prime minister," said advocate Dipendra Jha, a Madhesi activist.
Meanwhile, legal experts have said that there are technical complexities in the new constitution beside the political ones.
Advocate Pokharel said that developing new acts and regulations to dovetail with the new constitution would be the first challenge. According to Kashi Raj Dahal, chairman of the High-level Administrative Reform Suggestion Implementation Committee, over three hundred laws will need to be amended to bring them in line with the constitutional provisions.
"Since the constitution ensures federal structure, devising new laws in line with the constitution would be the first challenge. Settling the issue of delineation and making other administrative arrangements would be equally daunting," said Pokharel.
He also opined that ensuring economic, social and cultural rights, pledged as fundamental rights in the new constitution, would be difficult because of the economic condition of the country.
"Meanwhile, this constitution has contradictory provisions regarding the system of governance. We have embraced parliamentary democracy. But on the one hand, the constitution has a provision that bars no confidence motion against prime minister for at least two years of his assuming office, on the other hand, it has curtailed the prerogatives of the prime minister," argued Pokharel.
Advocate Jha, meanwhile, argued that the electoral system seemed unimplementable. "If fewer women get elected from the first-past-the-post electoral system, things will become more complicated. After ensuring 33 percent of reservations for women, how could the representatives of eight ethnic clusters listed in the constitution get elected," questioned Jha.
"There are many other contradictory provisions. On the one hand, the constitution has envisaged three tiers of governments--federal, provincial and locals. On the other hand, there are provisions to have district courts and district councils. It would be better if such contradictions are addressed through amendment based on suggestions of a technical team," he added.
In an attempt to placate the protesting political forces, the major three parties have been continuously saying that problems or unsettled issues in the constitution could be addressed through amendments.
"When CPN-UML urged for amendments to the 1990 constitution, the then Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai had said that even a punctuation mark should not be changed. This time, there is a broad understanding that the constitutional development could take place through amendments," said CPN-UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari, who was in the drafting committee of the 1990 constitution.
"There are lots of challenges ahead, so we need political consensus between major parties at least for another two and half years. Managing federal structures, holding elections in provinces and local bodies are crucial tasks to make this constitution a success. Thus, the political parties should remain united until these processes get completed," he added.
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