Majority govt’s turn now

KATHMANDU, JUL 12 -
The 12-day grace period given by President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav to the political parties for arriving at an agreement to form a consensus government expired fruitlessly on Monday at 5 p.m. The president later in the evening issued yet another call to the parties, asking them to form a majority based government according to the Interim Constitution of Nepal. However, no timeline has been given for forming such a government.

In a letter to the Legislature-Parliament on Monday evening, the president appealed to the parties to strive for a majority government under Article 38 (2) of the Interim Constitution from tomorrow as the deadline to form a consensus government had expired, according to a statement issued by the President’s office.

“Efforts to form a consensus government failed. I ask the Legislature-Parliament to begin the procedure to form a majority based government,” the president’s statement read.

After Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal’s resignation on July 1, at the request of the political parties the President had given them a seven-day grace period to form a national unity government. When the seven-day timeline expired, the parties sought a five-day extension of the grace period which was granted and which also has expired without any result.

The office of the legislature-parliament confirmed it has received the President’s letter and that it will host a meeting of 25 political parties in the Constituent Assembly (CA) to pick a new prime minister.

A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) has been called by CA chair Subas Chandra Nembang on Tuesday, which representatives of all the 25 parties will attend. The BAC will take a call on a fresh date for the prime minister’s election.

Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/07/12/top-story/majority-govts-turn-now/210370/