By Our Reporter
Who will be the next President? No one, even Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli can now a correct answer to this question even though the alliance led by them enjoys a comfortable majority to elect the new president.
Although PM Prachanda may be clearer than other leaders regarding the future president, he is not able to openly express his views. Maybe, the Indian intelligence knows better about the future president as NC had decided to give the vote of confidence to PM Dahal.
The election of the president has become a complex political issue after the Nepali Congress, dramatically, gave the vote of confidence to the Prime Minister after its President Sher Bahadur Deuba and the PM held a meeting on January 9, a day before the PM was to take the oath of office. It is widely believed that Deuba decided to give the vote to Prachanda after the latter assured the former support in the presidential election. Even PM Prachanda has stressed the national consensus after 268 of 270 lawmakers present in the parliament voted in favour of him on January 10.
Meantime, the CPN-UML has been suspicious about the PM after NC gave the vote of confidence to the government. UML chair and other leaders are now fearing whether the Maoist Centre will back the NC candidate in the election of the president. This must be one reason for UML not forwarding its candidate for the post.
The UML and the Maoist Centre on December 25 had agreed to give the posts of the President and Speaker to the UML while the Maoist Centre would take the post of the PM for the first two and a half years.
Dev Raj Ghimire of the UML has already been elected Speaker as per the agreement while the two parties had appointed the Chief Ministers according to the same agreement.
But they are not sure about the president. Even the Nepali Congress which has staked its claims for the post is not sure about its candidate although Ram Chandra Paudel was once floated as the NC’s presidential candidate. Krishna Sitaula of NC, Dr Bbauram Bhattarai and Krishna Khanal are sometimes rumoured as other candidates for the top post.
Even the parties have not decided on the date of the election. Nepali Congress has officially decided to contest the election of the President. It has also demanded the timely election of the president because the laws have conflicting provisions regarding the election of the new president and the term of the sitting president.
But one fact is that no one can be elected president without getting the support of the Maoist Centre. Lawmakers of the federal parliament—House of Representatives and National Assembly– and Provincial Assembly members are voters in the election of the president and vice president.
However, Prime Minister Prachanda, while unveiling his 30-day achievement in the office on Tuesday hinted that he might support NC in the presidential election. And it is natural for him to seek someone other than a UML candidate for the top post considering the ways President Bidya Devi Bhandari treated them when Oli was PM. And Prachanda may want to avert the situation because he has to step down in the next 29 months for Oli.
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