Despite repeated extension of the deadline by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav for the political parties to find a consensus prime ministerial candidate, major political parties seem to have reached nowhere close to forging consensus.
As the second deadline issued by the president expires on Wednesday, Kamal Pariyar of Republica caught up with civil society leaders to find out their views on the issue. Excerpt:[break]
Chaitanya Mishra, sociologist
Though attempts have been made to resolve the deadlock, no positive results have been attained so far. Election is the only solution to the current political deadlock but the parties have not even been able to pick a consensus prime ministerial candidate. We are running out of time so the political parties should find a prime ministerial candidate from outside the political parties. On the other hand, the president alone can do nothing in the current political situation other than issuing yet another deadline. If this situation prolongs all organs of the government will soon be defunct.
Lokraj Baral, political scientist
Both the ruling and the opposition parties have failed to forge consensus on holding election as they do not trust each other. If they are really serious about resolving the current deadlock, they should pick a non-political prime ministerial candidate. I wonder why the political parties are afraid of election. The President can´t take any step bypassing the political parties in the current situation. Even if there is no consensus between the political parties, the president has to gain consent of the political parties before making any move.
Bishnu Nisthuri, journalist
The tussle between the opposition parties and UCPN (Maoist) is because of their failure to set agendas for election. Political parties do not have any agenda to address the current deadlock as well. On the other hand, President Ram Baran Yadav is also fooling the people by issuing deadlines in the same way the major political parties were making fool of us by extending term of Constituent Assembly for the last few years. So the only solution is for the parties to come up with concrete agendas.
Mumaram Khanal, civil society activist
If political parities fail to find a solution, they should come up with measures to protect the country from an imminent political disaster. The parties can go for a presidium system if they failed to pick the prime minister through common understanding. Under the presidium system, the leaders can run the government by turns until fresh polls are held. Otherwise political disaster is imminent.
Babita Basnet, journalist
It is best to resolve the current deadlock through understanding between the political parties but this seems unlikely now. Now the ball is in the president´s court and he should take a concrete initiative instead of extending the deadline time and again. Efforts made in the name of consensus have only made us a laughing stock.