Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Interim parliament endorses Interim Constitution-2063

The first meeting of the interim parliament unanimously endorsed the Interim Constitution 2063 Monday evening.

Chairperson of the first session of the interim parliament Bal Bahadur Rai announced the endorsement of the interim constitution as none of the lawmakers opposed the proposal for endorsement. Home Minister Krishna Prasad Situala presented a proposal on behalf of the Prime Minister for endorsement of the interim constitution.

The interim constitution that replaces the constitution of 1990 has come into effect from today itself.

Addressing the session, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who leads the Maoist team in the interim parliament, said, “Today is beginning of new history. Never before had Nepali people got the opportunity to write their constitution. Now the people are going write their constitution through the constituent assembly, which is the main commitment of the interim constitution.”

“This is a historic day also in terms of balancing of political power,” he added, “In principle, the document has declared the end of monarchy and establishment of democratic republic.”

He described the interim constitution as a document of political agreement and that only the constituent assembly would bring a ‘complete constitution’. Mahara, who will also lead the Maoists in the interim cabinet also, reiterated his party’s stance in favour of democratic republic, revolutionary land reform, restructuring of the state and formation of national army.

“A new Nepal free of feudal suppression and foreign intervention has been our commitment and we are firm on that,” he said, adding that his party would play a constructive role in the interim parliament.

Addressing the session, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) Narayanman Bijukchhe urged the parties representing in the interim parliament to move ahead with consensus.

In the 330-seat interim parliament the Nepali Congress has 85 MPs, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist) have 83 members each, NC (Democratic) 48, Rastriya Prajatantra Party 9, Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi) 5, People’s Front Nepal (PFN) led by Amrik Sherchan and NWPP have 4 MPS each and the PFN factions led by Chitra Bahadur KC and Chitra Bahadur Ale have 3 and 2 MPs respectively. Similarly, the United Left Front has 3 members and Rastriya Janashakti Party has 1 member in the interim parliament.

The next meeting of the interim legislature is scheduled for Wednesday 2:00 pm. The government has announced Tuesday as a public holiday

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