Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CA to elect president on July 19

Even as the major parties are scrambling to name a presidential candidate, the Constituent Assembly (CA) has fixed July 19 (Saturday) as the date for election of the first president of republican Nepal.

The CA procedures advisory committee fixed the date for the presidential election which will be conducted through secret vote. Today's meeting of the CA is to approve the procedures of the election.

The committee's decision comes at a time when major parties have failed arrive at a consensus on the presidential candidate despite holding series of bilateral and multilateral discussions.

Earlier today, a meeting between top leaders of CPN (Maoist) and CPN (UML) over the issue ended inconclusively. The Maoists are said to have become ready to give the post to the UML, but they rejected the UML's proposal to nominate its former general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal for the top job.

The Maoists have been saying, from the very beginning, that they won't back Nepal or Girija Prasad Koirala for the presidency.

No comments: