Standoff involving president’s office executive and judiciary triggers a constitutional crisis in nepal

Standoff involving president’s office executive and judiciary triggers a constitutional crisis in nepal

The Kathmandu meltdown underlines the failure of Nepal's political class to manage the sweeping changes that came about after the 2008 abolition of the monarchy.

It is unfortunate that the seventh anniversary of the promulgation of Nepal’s Constitution has been marred by an unforeseen, though not an entirely surprising standoff between the constitutional head, the executive and the judiciary. Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana is under undeclared house arrest after an impeachment motion against him moved by the outgoing Parliament. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s government are at war with each other over her refusal to grant assent to a new citizenship bill that seeks to give citizenship by birth and descent to an estimated 500,000 people. The President had sent it back with questions, some of which are seen as valid, including its gender regressive portions. The Opposition sees the Bill as a government sop to the Terai region ahead of the elections. The elections are scheduled on November 20, but only if Bhandari, who belongs to the Opposition United Marxist Leninist Party, does not take any action by which the polls could get postponed, such as usurping the powers of the executive.

The President heightened such concerns when earlier this week she attended virtually a meeting of the Chinese Global Security Initiative despite some reservations in sections of the government. The theme of the conference was “Acting on the Global Security Initiative to Maintain Global Peace and Stability”. The Chinese invitation to Nepal to attend the conference came on the heels of a mid-September visit by Li Zhanshu, head of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress, the third by a Chinese dignitary since March, when foreign minister Wang Yi visited. The head of the international liaison department of the Chinese Communist Party Liu Jinchao visited in July.

The constitutional crisis underlines the failure of Nepal’s political class to manage the sweeping changes that came about after the 2008 abolition of the monarchy. The instability meant that the making of the Constitution would take another nine years. It was promulgated amid protests by the Madhesis whose demands for equal treatment of the Terai region with the hill provinces were not met. The protest led to a blockade of Nepal from the Indian side. If elections are held as scheduled, all indications are that the campaign will be polarised over the Citizenship Bill, and by extension along pro and anti-India lines. In the five years since the last election, Kathmandu was a revolving door of governments formed by different political combines with hardly the time or the inclination to address governance issues. It is hardly a propitious beginning to the next five years.