NBA suggests US-like federal structure

Kathmandu, March 21, 2008

Nepal’s size does not prevent it from going to a federal structure based on social, caste, linguistic or physical characteristics and absence of any special caste domination in the country negates the need for an unitary system, a report prepared by the Nepal Bar Association has said.

“Being a small country does not prevent introduction of a federal structure,” a report on Recommendations on the Constitution for submission to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal, prepared by the Nepal Bar Association in cooperation with the Canadian Bar Association, says adding: “There is no domination of any special caste of people like in China, France, Italy or Indonesia which makes it necessary to implement an unitary system. The federal structure could be decide based on social, cast-based, linguistic and structure.”

The report released yesterday by Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri dwells on different subjects related with process of constitution drafting, state structure, access to justice, independent judiciary, government attorneys and legal profession, corruption in judicial system, right to self-determination, fundamental rights among others.

On state structure, the report has suggested formation of a federal structure like that in the US with state power divided between the central and the state governments, respect to existence of both governments and sovereignty vesting on both the central and state governments.

PR list candidates fail to gather public attention

Kathmandu, March 21, 2008

Voters appear to be less interested in the candidates contesting on the proportional representation (PR) election system. Candidates on the PR list appear to be neglected from the voters’ eyes because of flaw in the election law regarding the selection process of the candidates. Except for a few nationally recognised leaders, almost all the 6,000 candidates from among the 54 parties registered with the Election Commission for the CA polls on PR system do not figure in the public discourse. “All the major political parties showed their hegemonistic attitude while preparing the lists of candidates for the PR and they did not include experts and independent people,” says Ananda Aditya, executive director of Pragya, a non-governmental political research organisation. “Sri Lanka introduced the PR system in 1978 with a view to making the political institutions more inclusive. But the country is still facing political complications because of malpractice,” he said. “Papua New Guinea also followed a variant of PR system, the Alternative Vote (AV) system, from 1964 to 1975, but later switched to the first-past-the-post system after the AV failed to ensure representation of the minority community,” he informed.