Friday curse derails Nepal PM poll again

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(Free-Press-Release.com) July 24, 2010 -- KATHMANDU: Since July 2001, when a carnage in the king's palace in Kathmandu wiped out the entire royal family, Fridays became to be feared as black days when conspiracies, violence and dark deeds stalked Nepal. So it was no surprise that Friday's run-off to choose a new prime minister would be derailed yet again, leaving the country in chaos.
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It was a grim moment of truth for Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda who, for the second time in two days, failed to sway Nepal's parliamentarians. The first Maoist prime minister of Nepal could get just 241 votes on Friday's fresh election, short of simple majority by 60 votes. As a Job's comfort, his rival from the Nepali Congress (NC), former deputy PM Ram Chandra Poudel, also put up an equally poor show, getting only 123 votes but Prachanda's loss is greater, given the thumping majority he had obtained just two years ago.

"Since neither of the contestants could get simple majority, as per Nepal's constitution, I am calling the house to meet again on Aug 2," parliament chairman Subhash Nembang said. Now a third round of election between the two rivals will be held on Aug 2 and if there is no decisive result even then, the weary process will continue till one of them can manage to persuade the other parties and assemble the bare minimum support.

The communists, who had backed out of the fray during Wednesday's election but still want the top post, are clamouring for the rules to change so that the candidates can be changed too and they can re-enter the ring. However, the NC is against it, hoping to be able to win over the more than 200 fence-sitting MPs who did not take part in the vote both on Wednesday and

Friday. If these can be wooed back, then one of the rivals could still scrape through.
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Besides some of the fringe parties, the main fence-sitters are the communists, who have 109 MPs and the united Madhesi front comprising four Terai parties from the southern plains with 82 MPs. Each is trying to extract the maximum mileage as pre-condition for supporting the contestants. While the communists are divided, the Terai parties, who unveiled a 15-point

programme on Friday, are seeking an autonomous Madhes state in the plains and the inclusion of plains people in the army in proportion to their population. Both are difficult conditions to fulfil and even if Prachanda or Poudel agrees in an opportunistic bid to get the Terai vote, they will regret it in the long run.
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Indian intervention can help break up the impasse but New Delhi, after frequent India bashing by the parties, is giving them a long rope. However, western diplomats, alarmed at the long crisis, have begun to voice their conern. The British ambassador to Nepal Sir Andrew Hall met Poudel on Friday, saying a continued poll fiasco would affect the peace process. Nepal has already missed its date with destiny this year by failing to promulgate a new constitution in May. If the political instability continues, it will fail the

May 2011 deadline as well.