Kathmandu, October 12:

CPN-UML and Nepali Congress leaders said today they will be able to “find a compromising formula” on the two proposals tabled by the Maoists in the interim parliament on Thursday.

Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara tabled the two proposals in the interim parliament demanding that the country be declared a republic and full proportional representation system be adopted for the constituent assembly election. But the NC is against both the proposals and it has decided to vote against it. Voting on the proposals is scheduled for Tuesday.

“I am hopeful that the seven parties will be able to find a meeting point between the stances of the Maoists and the NC,” UML standing committee member Jhala Nath Khanal said at the Reporters’ Club.

Khanal said declaring the country a republic by the interim parliament subject to endorsement by the constituent assembly and Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR) could be the meeting point between the stances of the NC and the Maoists. He added that the idea of a referendum to decide the fate of monarchy had been irrelevant.

Khanal said his party might also table a separate proposal acceptable to both the NC and the Maoists to end the current political deadlock.

NC vice-president Gopal Man Shrestha urged the Maoists to withdraw the proposals and asked them to find a solution to it at the seven-party meeting. “NC does not want to take the Maoist proposals in a voting as it will create a new political polarisation within the seven parties,” Shrestha said.

He added that the NC cannot go against the decision of the recently concluded mahasamiti meeting that endorsed the proposal of a federal democratic republic and mixed election system.

Maoist leader Dev Gurung said, “The NC is divided into monarchist and republican lines. Therefore, it is hesitating to declare the country a republic,” Gurung said.

He said they would not withdraw their proposals and would urge other parties to support their proposals.

Gurung claimed that the interim parliament, which was formed following the April revolution, commanded the people’s mandate to declare the country a republic. He also warned of a new political polarisation if the Maoist proposals were defeated.

Asked about Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s special envoy Shyam Saran’s comment that free and fair election was the best way to decide the future of monarchy, Gurung said, “Foreign friends may give advice, but it is the Nepali people and parties to take a final decision”.