Participants of a seminar have stressed the need of forming an interim constitution to manage the transitional period and to go for the election of the constituent assembly.

Presenting a working paper on ‘Management of Transitional Period and Constituent Assembly’, advocate Bhimarjun Acharya said that formation of an interim constitution is the best option to manage the transitional period as the state should not remain in a condition of lawlessness for a prolonged period.

He added that though the historic proclamation of the parliament was made as per peoples’ aspiration, its validity could be challenged anytime.

He further said that interim constitution is essential to end the legacy of the old regime and to legalize the transitional phase.

He suggested that a list system for voting and multiple-members constituency for electoral areas would be appropriate for the election of the constituent assembly.

He also suggested that agendas should be decided before the election of the constituent assembly to avoid confusion during the said elections.

Presenting paper on the same programme, Professor Krishna Khanal said though the issue of holding the election of the constituent assembly was over after parliament passed a motion in this regard, the main challenge is holding the election in a free and fair manner.

He further said that holding talks with the Maoists to bring life to normalcy, interim government with the participation of the Maoists, holding election of the constituent assembly and the formation and declaration of the new constitution are the main agendas of the country.

He pointed out the need of some mechanism to monitor the ceasefire, to guarantee not to use weapons, interim management of weapons and monitoring of the elections of the constituent assembly by United Nations or any other reliable international agency as conditions for peaceful settlement of the Maoist insurgency.

“Discussions on the draft of the constitution should be held at the people’s level and the recommendations should be incorporated while finalizing the draft,” Khanal added.

He added that the constitution to be formed after the election of the constituent assembly should be the document of National Consensus and not the document formed by the majority.

Commenting on the paper, journalist Shyam Shrestha agreed that the interim constitution is the need of the hour.

He said that the people’s movement succeeded due to the suppression of the royal regime and the role played by the media.

He urged the government and political parties to take bold decisions in the issues to reach to the election of the constituent assembly. “Weapon management of Maoists, dissolution of the local bodies formed by the Maoists and participation of Maoists in the interim government are some of the complex issues that needs to be resolved before going for the election of the constituent assembly,” Shrestha added.