Unification deal

The Himalayan Times

22 February 2018

Unification deal

Nepal witnessed several ups and downs in its political environment in the last 67 years. The country was declared Republic in April 2008 by the first Constitutional Assembly meeting abolishing the 240 year old monarchy. The New constitution was promulgated by the second Constitutional Assembly in September 2015 and is now in full swing in its implementation soon after the completion of three tiers of elections. Local level elections were held in a gap of 20 years. Accordingly, local governments have started functioning for the last nine months despite of limited budget, human resources crunch and inadequate infrastructures. Provincial governments are in a process of taking their full shapes. Likewise, federal government is on the way to lead the country.

Finally, both the UML and CPN-MC signed seven point-deal on Monday to unify their parties as promised just before the provincial and federal level elections “UML, CPM-MC pen pact for sharing power” (THT, Feb. 20, Page 1). In fact, they had fought the elections as the left alliance and were able to woo the voters with the promise of a prosperous Nepal. Both Oli and Dahal will take turns to lead the government by evenly splitting the five year tenure. Among other deals, UML will take the posts of the president and deputy speaker of the parliament and the posts of speaker and the vice president will go to CPN-MC.

It is yet to be seen how long it will take to adjust the cadres and leaders from village to the central level of both parties to amalgam into one single party will take. However, it should be taken as a positive step towards minimizing the number of political parties in Nepal and making a strong party to play active and productive role in making the democratic process more effective and stable which will ultimately contribute to the betterment of the country and its people.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj