Posted on July 21st, 2008 by UWB
Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Nepali Congress General Secretary, has been elected the first President of the republic of Nepal in the presidential run-off held today in the Constituent Assembly. Yadav, backed by a coalition of NC, UML, MPRF and other fringe parties the CA, got 308 votes-almost a dozen more than needed for the simple majority- while his rival Ram Raja Prasad Singh, who was considered the Maoist candidate for the presidency, ended up with 282 votes. 590 out of 594 lawmakers had cast their votes in the president poll run-off that kicked off at around 8 and ended at around 11 this morning, according to the Election Commissioner’s office.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao answers question relating to Nepal: On July 22, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao answered one question regarding to the election of President and Vice President of Nepal. His answer is as follows:
We have noticed that the Constituent Assembly of Nepal has elected the first President and Vice President in history, and the Chinese side is happy to this and expresses its congratulations to the newly elected President Mr. Ram Yadav and Vice President Mr. Paramananda Jha. China, as good neighbor, good friend and good partner of Nepal, sincerely hopes that the peace process of Nepal could keep going ahead, and Nepal could realize political stability, economic development and ethnic unity as well.
July 22, 2008
U.S. Congratulates CA and the People of Nepal on Election of a President: The United States congratulates the members of the Constituent Assembly and the people of Nepal on the successful election of a President, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav. With a President, and a Vice President, duly elected, the Constituent Assembly can now undertake the next essential steps in the formation of a new government to provide the services and security the people deserve, and to begin the simultaneous work of drafting a new constitution.
Read more »
Filed under: Nepali Politics 2 | 74 Comments »
Posted on July 21st, 2008 by UWB
Politics is a principal policy of state, but the state is in confusion since the CPN (Maoist) became the largest party in the CA election with 38% of 601 seats.
By Bishnu Pathak PhD
Incident IV: Against the low quality food, rampant ill-treatment and discrimination not by others, but by their own seniors, about 500 Nepal Police rank and file seized the Riot Control Battalion and the Mid-western Regional Company at Nepalgunj (about 650 km west from Kathmandu) on July 12, 2008. They took seven-senior officers including one SSP (Senior Superintendent of Police), 3 SP (Superintendent of Police) and others hostage. Read more »
Filed under: Security 2 | No Comments »
Posted on July 19th, 2008 by UWB
Both candidates-Dr. Ram Baran Yadad and Ram Raja Prasd Singh- failed to get enough votes (simple majority) for today’s presidential polls while Paramanda Jha, a candidate filed by Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, fourth largest party in the CA, got elected as the Vice President. Yadav got 294- four votes short of the simple majority while Singh got 284. Jha got 305 (not officially verified). Of the total 594 voters registered, 578 CA members cast their ballots while 16 CA members stayed away from the voting centre. CPN UML had supported NC candidate Dr. Yadav while pulling back, unofficially, the candidacy of their man Ramprit Paswan.
Filed under: Nepali Politics 2 | 51 Comments »
Posted on July 17th, 2008 by Dinesh Wagle
Or is it the Maoists who will actually lead?
By Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal
There is a saying in Nepali: thangna ma sutaunu. CPN Maoist has done the same to the CPN UML (United Marxists & Leninists). UML is out in the cold thanks to the cunning politics played by the former rebels. It appears almost certain (though you can never predict political happenings, especially the Nepali) that the Maoist’s candidate for the president of Nepal will be indeed the first president of Nepal. Events are evidences that Maoists are succeeding to guide the Nepali polity by their, and only, their, terms. First they gave the lollypop of president to the UML and got the UML vote in the CA (as legislative parliament) to thwart the Nepali Congress proposal of providing a seat to the leader of the opposition leader in the National Security Council. Maoist continued luring UML with the President lollypop while they strategically sidelined the NC, second largest party in the CA. UML kept dancing while Maoist was having second thought about the lollypop. UML was all high thinking that Maoist would help elect one of their top leaders, namely the poor unfortunate MK Nepal, as the first president of Nepal. Read more »
Filed under: Nepali Politics 2, Story of the Day | 41 Comments »
Posted on July 13th, 2008 by UWB
For the record: Govt to take legal measures to tame
An emergency cabinet meeting today evening decided to take every possible legal measure to bring the situation at the Nepalgunj based Riot Control Police Battalion under control. The cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence at Baluwatar directed the Home Ministry to tame the situation at Nepalgunj police battalion where seven police personnel are being held hostage by junior police personnel since yesterday, said a minister who attended the meeting. The meeting also ordered the ministry to make necessary arrangements to maintain discipline in all the security bodies, remain alert to avert such incidents in the future and to take the incident under control at the earliest. Read more »
Filed under: Security 2 | 21 Comments »
Posted on July 13th, 2008 by UWB
Is This the Beginning of the End?
By Krishna Giri
The demand of ‘Madhesh Ek Pradesh’ is the most unpatriotic, unethical, immoral, bias and hypocritical act by any political force in history of Nepal. People from certain regions are neither calling themselves Nepali nor speaking their mother tongues and are enraged by the term Nepal. Most of them have adopted ‘Hindi’ as their official language raising apprehension about their credibility as well as their loyalty to ‘Maithili’ and ‘Bhojpuri’. Their secret meetings with Indian diplomats and official disgust slogans against ‘Pahade’ people have provoked and damaged unimaginable social harmony amongst Nepali people. The accents of ‘Tharus’ and ‘Chure Bhaware’ may sound little sympathetic but they too are standing for ethnicity based autonomy and many more communities are going to follow the suit. These voices of ethnic and racial based autonomy are the biggest and unprecedented threats to the national unity and sovereignty of Nepal. The most fearful question at this time is: Is this the beginning of the end to disintegrate Nepal? Read more »
Filed under: Announcements | 162 Comments »
Posted on July 9th, 2008 by UWB
The legislative session of the Constituent Assembly (CA) resumed today at the International Convention Centre in New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, after being interrupted for 12 days following obstructions caused by Madhes-based regional parties demanding constitutional guarantee of an “autonomous Madhes state” and “mass Nepal Army recruitment of Madhesi people”. The CA meeting began its regular business after the disgruntled Madhes-based parties decided to let the CA proceedings move on although they expressed reservations over the newly prepared fifth amendment bill to the interim constitution. Read more »
Filed under: Madhes-Terai | 59 Comments »
Posted on July 5th, 2008 by UWB
Protests start against ‘One Madhes, One Province’ outside CA
Today: With the government all set to address the demands forwarded by the Madhes-based parties through a supplementary amendment bill, various indigenous groups residing in Terai have expressed strong objections to the “One Madhes, One Province” demand. Some 22 organisations including Tharu Welfare Assembly have been staging demonstrations outside the Constituent Assembly (CA) venue at New Baneshwor in the capital on Saturday (today). Earlier today, representatives of about 15 organisations concerning the Tharu community took out a protest rally against the ‘One Madhes, One Province’ demand in the capital. The participants of the rally that was organised by Tharu Welfare Assembly, an umbrella organisation representing the Tharu community, appealed to stop converting Tharuhat land into Madhes immediately. They also requested not to use the term ‘Madhes’ in the interim constitution. They stressed that the entire issues including that of the Madhesis must be decided by the CA.
The indigenous groups of Terai said that the identity of the indigenous groups will disappear if the whole Terai region is declared Madhes. They also expressed concern claiming that attempts were being made to hand over their native land, political and civic rights to the Madhesi community. Read more »
Filed under: Nepali Politics 2 | 42 Comments »
Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by UWB
There are many differences over the definition of a “Madhes autonomous province” and “group entry” of certain communities into Nepal Army among the top three political parties- CPN Maoist, NC, CPN UML. That has made them fail to prepare the draft of a supplementary constitution amendment bill that was supposed to address the demands raised by Madhesi political parties and ensure smooth functioning of the Constituent Assembly meeting that has been stalled for five consecutive days. “We proposed that the constitution amendment bill should guarantee right to autonomous provinces for all ethnic groups and marginalized communities,” said Maoist leader Dev Gurung, a member of the taskforce formed by the parties to resolve the issue. Read more »
Filed under: Nepali Politics 2 | 25 Comments »
Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by UWB
Paras at Airport in Kathmandu. Pic by Narendra Shrestha via Kantipur
Former crown prince Paras flew to Singapore yesterday amid speculation that he plans to quit the country following abolition of the monarchy ,or arrange schooling abroad for his three kids- Hridayendra, Purnika and Kritika. He reached Tribhuvan International Airport flanked by personal security officials (PSO) and close relatives. Airport security officials said that he boarded a direct Silk Air flight to Singapore at around 1 pm. Paras’s late uncle Dhirendra’s son-in-law and close aide of the former monarch, Dr Rajiv Shahi, who survived in the 2001 royal massacre, saw Paras off at the airport. Paras was accompanied to Singapore by his brother-in-law Raj Bahadur Singh and Adarsh Bikram Rana. Read more »
Filed under: Story of the Day 2 | 20 Comments »
Ram Baran Yadav is the First President of Republic Nepal:
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