Dogged by taint, Maoists lose Nepal PM poll seventh time

KATHMANDU - Reeling under the double whammy of bribery allegations and a lawmaker receiving life term for murder, Nepal’s Maoist party lost Tuesday’s prime ministerial election, for the seventh time in a row, plunging the nation into a deeper political crisis.

Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who had led a successful 10-year war against the monarchist government and won the prime ministership with a thumping majority two years ago, could muster only 252 votes. He fell quite short of the halfway mark of 300 in the currently 599-member parliament, despite speculation that he would be able to break into the Terai vote bank.

Though Prachanda, whose party has 236 MPs, improved his tally by 16, 110 MPs voted against him, and 159 MPs abstained from voting while the turnout of 521 MPs was one of the lowest ever.

Since the fall of his eight-month government last year and growing controversies about his party, the former revolutionary has failed to recapture his victory over his challenger, former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress.

Poudel’s position worsened with only 119 votes while 245 voted against him and 151 remained neutral.

The prime minister race, started after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned June 30, has remained inconclusive for over two months as two of the largest groups are sitting on the fence.

Nepal’s Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist Leninist with its 109 MPs, forced to pull out of the race due to internal bickering, pledges to stay neutral until both contenders withdraw.

Four parties from the Terai plains, whose 82 lawmakers could help Prachanda return to power, had also been sitting neutral. However, on Tuesday, one of their partners broke away and voted for Prachanda.

Led by former foreign minister Upendra Yadav, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal with its 25 MPs, is now allying with the Maoists.

However, the other Terai parties are still giving Prachanda a wide berth, especially after the emergence of an audio tape last week. The tape purportedly records Maoist MP Krishna Bahadur Mahara seeking NRS.500 million from an unnamed “friend” in China to buy 50 MPs’ votes, needed to shore up Prachanda.

Though the Maoists have denounced the tape as “a fake” circulated to discredit them before the election, there is now a growing demand by the ruling parties for an investigation.

The parliamentary party of the Nepali Congress Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, urging him to start a speedy investigation into the allegation of horsetrading.

There was also a protest in front of the Chinese rmbassy in Kathmandu Tuesday by students who accused Beijing of abetting horsetrading in Nepal and asked for an inquiry. The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the embassy, asking the Chinese government not to interfere in Nepal’s internal matters.

The council of ministers Monday decided to form an inquiry committee after consultations with the chairman of parliament, Subas Nembang.

In yet another major embarrassment for the Maoists, another of their lawmakers, Balkrishna Dhungel, hit the headlines this week after being convicted by the Supreme Court for murder.

Dhungel was found guilty of the murder of Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha in Okhaldhunga district during the Maoists’ “People’s War”. Though the killing occurred nearly 12 years ago, the Supreme Court released the full verdict Sunday, sentencing the Maoist MP to life imprisonment.

The verdict has triggered a growing public debate on whether Dhungel can remain an MP.

There are calls for him to be stripped of his position though the Maoists are claiming immunity on the ground that the ruling parties agreed to drop most criminal cases involving Maoists when they signed a peace deal in 2006.

As the country remains without a government for over two months, there is growing doubt about the peace process and the parties’ ability to promulgate a new constitution in May 2011.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will table a report on Nepal before the Security Council in New York.

The election fiasco will cast a shadow over Nepal’s credibility and may lead to the UN withdrawing from the peace process.

In 2007, the UN became a partner with its political agency, the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), beginning to monitor the arms and combatants of the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as the Nepal Army.

Though the PLA was to have been disbanded within six months, nearly 20,000 guerrillas are still kicking their heels in makeshift cantonments and the UNMIN’s tenure, extended six times, expires Sep 15.

The ruling parties have now fallen out with the UN agency, accusing it of bias towards the Maoists and seeking to take the army off its supervision.

In a warning issued on the eve of the Security Council meeting, the UN chief said he was not in favour of repeated extensions for the UNMIN “in an atmosphere of persistent and unfounded criticism that complicates its ability to function”.

Calling the situation in Nepal not conducive to sustained engagement, Ban is recommending that the current mandate of the UNMIN be reviewed with a duly formed government.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)