Kathmandu, December 4
CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, who is confident that the leftist alliance under his leadership will win majority seats in the House of Representatives, says the alliance will not go for amending the constitution immediately.
Whereas speculations are rife that two major communist parties have come together with a mission to established an executive presidential system, Oli rules out that too and says such amendments are not major issues in the present context.
In an interview with Onlinekhabar, Oli says the recent constitution amendment proposal brought by the government was against national interest; therefore his alliance would not bring any proposal similar to that in the future.
Nevertheless, he maintains that the constitution is an amendable document and it needs to undergo timely changes to make people equipped with more rights and let them exercise them.
“The constitution must be amended if people are deprived of their rights and opportunities due to some of its provisions. Amendments are necessary if there are obstacles in development, in strengthening national unity and democracy,” he says, “The constitution can be amended for Nepalis, but not for others.”
“Now, we have promulgated a new constitution after many contracts and agreements. We will implement it and end the transitional phase. People’s verdict and our experiences will tell us later if anything should be done for people and the country.”
He says his alliance will focus on implementing the constitution for next five years.
Oli accuses the Nepali Congress of raising the issue of executive presidential system after it feared its defeat in the polls. The leader, however, maintains that even directly elected executive presidential systems could be democratic enough.
“They need to remember that the United States has the directly elected executive presidential system. What do they say about [democracy there]. Maybe it is a difficult question for them to answer.”
“For now, we will not hold any discussion on whether we go for the American system, French system or Chinese system. Rather, we will strengthen our system.”
“Is democracy just a parliamentary system or is it also people’s rights, opportunities and aspirations for prosperity?”
