Fresh initiative for breaking Nepal's political deadlock

Kathmandu, Dec 18 (UNI) The seven party alliance (SPA) in Nepal has come up with a 20-point programme to break the political deadlock in the Himalayan nation.

The draft will be tabled at the meeting of the top leaders of the seven parties slated for tomorrow morning, said a member of the task force which had chalked out the programme, Kantipur reported.

In an alternative but significant development a faction of the SPA Nepal Workers' and Peasants Party (NWPP) prepared a separate 8-point note disagreeing with some of the provisions of the draft.

In its bid for consensus, the SPA is ready to consider the NWPP proposal in tomorrow's meeting for discussion, a source said.

The seven party taskforce has been able to forge consensus on complicating issues like declaration of a republic through the parliament and implementation of the decision by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, increment in the number of CA members and a slight restructuring of the government.

''The agreement will be publicised only after the top leaders finalise the draft,'' said a SPA leader.

The demand of NWFP pertains to the formation of caretaker government for regulating the election process led by persons who played a vital role during the people's movement.

The seven party alliance should be running the new interim government and the reinstatement of local bodies were some of the other demands of the Peasant Party.

The task force yesterday had recommended for the amendment of the constitution for inclusion of provisions pertaining to a republic, constituent assembly and mixed electoral system.

The taskforce, however, decided to let the top leaders decide the exact language to be used in the constitution to reflect the agreement to go for a republic.

The task force has recommended the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls for electing 601 member with the aid of mixed proportional electoral system in which 335 members may be elected through proportional electoral system, 240 to be elected under a first-past-the-post system and 26 nominated by the prime minister.

The taskforce includes Dr Baburam Bhattarai from the CPN (Maoist), Bimalendra Nidhi from the NC, Bharat Mohan Adhikari from the CPN-UML, Lilamani Pokharel from the PFN, Sunil Prajapati from the NWPP, C P Mainali from the ULF and Sarita Giri from the NSP (Anandidevi).

UNI