Agreement to be signed later
Kathmandu, 2 Nov 2014: The ruling four political parties are close to an agreement on the four major contentious issues of the forthcoming constitution.
Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and CPN-ML have come to an agreement on matters relating to restructuring of state, forms of governance, judicial system and electoral system.
A meeting of the ruling parties held at the Baluwatar residence of the Prime Minister today also decided to develop a draft of the agreement on the four issues and begin discussion with leaders of UCPN (Maoist) and Madhesh-centric parties.
Not with standing the result of the talks with the opposition parties, the agreement will be signed later today and handed over to Chair of the CA Constitutional-Political Dialogue Committee Dr Baburam Bhattarai.
The four parties are said to have agreed to a six-province model for state restructuring, including four in the hills and two in the plains. The naming and demarcation of the provinces will be carried out on the basis of identity and viability, UML Vice-chair Bidhya Bhandari.
Likewise, the agreement on the forms of governance is a reformed parliamentary system including the President and Prime Minister elected by the parliament. However, one of the ruling parties has objected to this provision, according to leader of RPP Parliamentary Party Dipak Bohara.
As per the four-party agreement, there shall be a bicameral legislature in the centre with 75 members in the upper house and 175 in the lower house. The upper house will be elected through proportional representation election system and the lower house through first-past-the-post system.
According to leader Bohara, the parties have agreed to continue the existing judicial system with the Supreme Court. However, no agreement has been reached about the constitutional court.
Similarly, the existing mixed system of electoral system will be continued. The agreement will be signed by this evening and handed over to the CPDCC Chair, according to NC leader Ramesh Lekhak.
The meeting was attending by NC President and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, General Secretary Krishna Sitoula and Minister for Law and Justice Narahari Acharya on behalf of NC.
Likewise, the UML was represented by Chairman KP Sharma, Vice-chairs Ms Bhandari, Bhim Rawal and Bamdev Gautam and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.
RPP leader senior Surya Bahadur Thapa and parliamentary party leader Bohara represented RPP in the meeting.
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