An Elusive Consensus

Political rally in Kathmandu yesterday.

An update on the political situation in Nepal. This one was nicely summarized by our organization's security adviser 6 days ago.

 Authorities are significantly boosting security throughout Nepal ahead of a Jan. 22 deadline for the government to draft a constitution. Security will be especially tight in Kathmandu, in the vicinity of sensitive installations, including the Constituent Assembly (CA) building, the Singha Durbar (Lion Palace), and Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM).

The CA has set Jan. 22 as the cut-off date by which it will write and pass Nepal's post-royalist democratic constitution. However, the parties involved in the drafting of the charter have thus far failed to reach consensus on key issues such as federalism, forms of government, the judiciary, and electoral areas. The ruling Nepali Congress party and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) plan to decide on contentious issues of the charter by a majority vote in the CA in order to meet the deadline. The ruling coalition commands a two-thirds majority in the CA, and could easily pass the new constitution through a vote in the CA. However, such a charter would be unacceptable to other political parties and ethnic groups, whose demands would be left largely unaddressed. The UCPN-M and its allies have vowed to further intensify their agitation if the constitution is not drafted through consensus. If the CA fails to deliver a new constitution by Jan. 22, Nepal could face another round of political crisis. In November 2013, Nepal held the country's second CA election after the first, which was elected in 2008, dissolved in 2012 without ratifying a new constitution.

Today all shops were closed. Political rallies could be heard in the bazaar. Evidently, another nation-wide bandh (strike) may occur tomorrow and the day after leading up to the controversial Jan 22nd deadline. 

Please pray for a just constitution to finally pass and peace to prevail. Several political groups (and their associated ethnic groups) have threatened to bring trouble again, by violence if necessary.