Why Dr. Ram Baran Yadav should be Elected First President of Republic Nepal?
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Why Dr. Ram Baran Yadav should be Elected First President of Republic Nepal?
American Chronicle:
Prakash Bom
July 19, 2007
First of all, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has secured 294 votes of Constituent Assembly out of the first round of the presidential election. He could have been the first elected president of Nepal yesterday if twenty-four votes of president were not cancelled.
However, it is politically clear that the Constituent Assembly government of Nepal at this transitional period must be formed with the balance of political power among the main political parties in the Constituent Assembly because the fundamental responsibility of the government is to facilitate the drafting of a new constitution of the federal democratic Nepal to be accomplished in set time-frame successfully.
It is inevitable that the process will have ample of complications, differences and conflicts on many issues that might even trigger sudden political chaos and confusions if there is no balance of power among main political parties in the government. Therefore, it is the national urgency for electing a first president, who has not only political vision, experience and commitment to the norms and principle of democracy, but also by electing whom the sharing of power among main political parties in Constituent Assembly becomes certain.
Electing a first president, therefore, is not to glorify the image of Republic with the personality of an individual who had raised the first republican flag in the history of Nepal but how to implement the balance of power in the government with the mandate of Constituent Assembly elections that gave no single political party simple majority to form the government. Therefore, without balancing power in the government neither the political consensus nor the ballot of Constituent Assembly can be secured to pave the way for addressing the complicated constitutional issues in drafting a new constitution.
SPA has failed simply because it functioned without political protocol and code of conduct for SPA members to comply with. If there had been then the consensus for nominating a candidate for the president would have some principles to follow the political protocol and the code of conduct among main political parties. For example, Maoist couldn't have been able to propagate public sentiment for making Maoist chairman the first president.
As a result, the main political parties could have set political protocol for them to follow up procedure. Both Nepali Congress and UML had long neglected the issue to discuss among SPA. It is because as Maoist both NC and UML have been ambitious about to grab the chair of the first president for their party chief to make the history without considering the seriousness of the first president's role in the electoral power mechanics of the Constituent Assembly that needs a consistent balancing of political power in the government.
It seems as if the thinking of these political party leaderships is more awful than of a layman who dreams desperately building a castle in the sand. If not they would not declare republic just to glorify by making it complicated for electing the first president without even seriously discussing it between main political parties if not with SPA. Such political attitudes cannot be the etiquettes of political consensus. It is nothing but egoistical political behavior that is purposefully meant to glorify their ringleaders who dominate the gang. If not why the Maoist chairman or NC president or former UML general secretary wished to be the first president of republic Nepal without even honestly expressing their wish among themselves in alliance.
This sort of personality-cult politics is as primitive as dissolved medieval feudal monarchies' thus simply cannot serve the nation and people of Nepal honestly. If they cannot simply apprehend that what nation will Nepal become tomorrow then they cannot lay the foundation of democracy for the federal democratic republic political system without making themselves immortal in the pages of the history. Their attempt is trivial because it is like to put the horses before the cart.
Therefore, the representatives of Constituent Assembly must discard the choice of the main political parties, which resulted from such party politics for the glory either of the personality or the image of Republic. It is because electing one of such choices will not serve the purpose for balancing the power in forming stable government that can facilitate the drafting of a new constitution successfully.
It is clear thus that the representatives of Constituent Assembly must elect that candidate whose presidency can balance the political power for forming a unity government under the leadership of Maoist as major political party. In my observation it is Dr. Ram Baran Yadav who has that political integrity and circumstance to help form a unity government by bringing both NC and UML in a new government under the leadership of Maoist.
It is one of the instances of the failure of Maoist politics that tend to glorify Republic without laying its keystones. The urgency of the nation is to establish institutions of multiparty democracy for the federal democratic republic political system of government. Therefore, it is not a time to glorify Republic prematurely. But it is time to pave the way for balancing power for the unity government to accomplish the fundamental objective of Constituent Assembly. If Maoist cannot look before they leap in an attempt to building a castle in the sky without realizing the fact that their mandate itself cannot lead the nation devoid of the consensus of other main political parties, then they will end up making such mistakes one after another in the contemporary politics of Nepal.
Consequently, electing a first president of federal democratic republic Nepal with the right candidacy has become a national crisis that if elected wrong person forming a stable unity government with the balance of power will be slim. Nation needs such a candidate who is capable of help in forming a unity government and who is in such a political circumstance that can oblige NC and UML to join the government for political consensus in achieving the fundamental objective of Constituent Assembly.
End to the personality-cult driven politics of power in which Nepali Congress resented Maoist chairman becoming the first president, thereafter once Maoist let go its stake then UML former general secretary MK Nepal resented GP Koiral and finally Maoist chairman resented GP Koerala bitterly - all in the air attempting to build the castle in the sand!
People of Nepal and the nation no longer need personality-cult driven leaderships but the nation building leaderships who are rational and honest about their commitments for establishing institutions of multiparty democracy for a federal democratic republic political system of government to function conscientiously.
Prakash Bom
July 19, 2008
American Chronicle: