This report is issued by the UN RCHCO with inputs from its UN Field Coordination Offices and other partners and sources. The report covers May 2013. The next report will be issued the first week of July 2013.
Political update
During the course of May, the Interim Electoral Council of Ministers (IECM) expedited its efforts to prepare the ground for announcing the date of elections. It held several talks with the major four political parties and dissenting parties in its bid to create an environment of compromise on outstanding issues. Though the Chairperson of the IECM, Khil Raj Regmi, publicly announced the government’s commitment to hold the election in the first week of Mangsir (16-23 November, 2013), differences over concessions to the demands of dissenting parties within the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) continued to hold-up the process.
The IECM continues to insist that it will not announce the election date until it is in a position to promulgate the outstanding election related legislation. It has also said that if the parties fail to reach consensus on this legislation then it will be compelled to take “appropriate” decisions to move ahead with the election preparation and promulgation of the last electoral law relating to the Election to Members of the Constituent Assembly. Further, the IECM does not intend to appoint the election constituency re-delineation commission until the outstanding constitutional, legal, and political issues are resolved and the election date announced.
Consensus in the HLPC is especially needed on issues which require a constitutional amendment to be passed by the President. In late May, despite the parties’ polarization at the HLPC, the cross-party mechanism set up a task force to reach consensus on the most contentious issues (proposed changes to the proportional representation system in the next CA, threshold and eligibility of candidates). Meanwhile, in the HLPC, some parties accepted the dissenting demands to revise the 11-point agreement and the presidential ordinance to remove constitutional difficulties. But other parties opposed it and adhered to their position not to move ahead beyond the letter and spirit of the 11-point agreement and the 25-point Ordinance passed by the President on 13 March.
Much political and media attention focused on the negotiation between the parties and the IECM on the contentious issues that needs to be resolved to pave way for the announcement of the election date. The United Nations Secretary-General issued a statement on 24 May urging the parties to solve the outstanding political issues and move forward towards elections.