Political parties have given mixed reactions to His Majesty King Gyanendra’s direction to the Election Commission (EC) to conduct elections of the House of Representatives within mid-April 2007.
Leaders of agitating political parties have defined the King’s order as a ploy to strengthen his ‘autocratic’ rule while moderate right wing parties have expressed guarded views to it.
Talking to Kantipur Television, a private TV channel, hours after the King’s message to the nation Wednesday in which he directed the EC to hold parliamentary polls within the year 2007, CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said: “Agitating parties are not going to support any step taken to legitimatise the autocratic rule in place.”
“This is yet another drama which will only intensify the conflict and it has come solely with the intention to confuse the world that this autocratic rule is moving in the democratic path,” the UML leader said.
Similarly, talking to the same TV channel, Nepali Congress general secretary Ram Chandra Poudel said that elections conducted by the present regime would complicate the situation rather than leading to a logical solution to the problems.
“Rather than giving a concrete solution to the problems, elections will add to the crisis. This is another ploy against the democratic movement of the parties,” he opined.
On the contrary, Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) chairman and former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa said that even if the King’s direction for parliamentary polls could not solve the problem automatically, it could be a “positive entry point”.
“We should take the King’s message positively. Let’s use the opportunity to reach to a solution to the current problems,” he said.
Reacting to the King’s message, former Prime Minister and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Lokendra Bahadur Chand said: “We agree that election per se is a democratic practice. But what we are stressing on is that there must be a proper environment before going for polls.”
The King in his message pledged to conduct free and fair polls of the parliament within 2007 and urged the international community to extend active support in this process. He also called on the Maoists to shun violence and join the political mainstream. nepalnews.com mk Oct 13 05