COCAP national secretariat organized an interaction on ‘forms of government’, one of the most contentious issues in the constitution making on July 11 at CCD hall, New Baneshwor. Major Objectives of the Interaction was to bring the differing political actors together and encourage them to agree on the issue.

The interaction program was attended by more than 100 participants including CA members, leaders of political parties, civil society leaders,  human right Activist, journalists, volunteers, intellectuals, local NGOs and INGOs and organizations dealing with the issue of peace and constitution assembly.

Professor of political science Prof. Krishna Pokharel presented a working paper by incorporating the issues relatedto the topic. Briefly outlining the individual characteristics of the existing forms of government across the world, he said in Parliamentary System a prime minister is the head of the government, and chairs the council of ministers/cabinet which executes the government’s policy and programs. The prime minister is elected by the legislature. Presidential System is where the president is both the head of state and the government and he/she has a fixed term of office. Mixed or Hybrid System is a blend of both Parliamentary and Presidential system. It is also called as Semi presidential or semi parliamentary system. He said traditional parliamentary system cannot work in Nepal likewise two power center system also won’t function here because our political parties lack discipline (multi party within a party). Therefore, he opined that government with a powerful executive head is the best system for Nepal.

Commenting over his paper, Parsu Ram Ghimire said it would be too early to conclude that parliamentary system could not work in Nepal as it hasn’t been much practiced. He also viewed Presidential system is not effective in multi cultural and diverse societies like ours.

Similarly, Min Basnet said forms of government should be in congruence with the federal system. He added if a system can not be holistic and does not have long term perspective then it may prove to be uncontrollable and incompatible. There won’t be accountability and good governance.

One of the participants said, “We talk about other country’s form but why can’t we develop our own model”. It should be an outcome of people’s movement and transitional issues.  Other participants said “systems should be made more democratic and rational, we need to be context specific”. We do not have major political consensus and thus all political system can’t be perfect in Nepal. Participants focused on federalism and pure understanding of democratic culture.

Shanbu Hajara- Chairperson of CA’s committee on the determination of forms of government said that they could not agree on a single model of government due to the lack of consensus among political parties.

Likewise, Eknath Bhandari, CA member from UCPN moist said committee has made some correction for the unsolved issues of the draft. A form of government is an important issue and said that they shall submit a draft to the citizen, and then make necessary correction after the feedback. He also said that the main cause of failure of CA was the conflict between many ideologies in 12 points agreement.

Sapana Malla Pradhan said the leaders are talking clearly and openly about this issue. She said we all want perfect constitution yet imperfect.  We all select the best model but in course of work it might fail.

Tags : National Secretariat Interaction on Forms of Government Citizens' Campaign for Peace and Constitution