honestly, i've been meaning to blog about nepal's revised PM-election process for about two weeks, but i assumed i'd have, like, three rounds of elections and run-offs to do it (and, cynically, that it would all end up going nowhere, anyway). much to my shock though, as of last night, nepal has a new prime minister. that the UML candidate, khanal, won isn't so suprising in and of itself; after the madhesi alliance threw in their own candidate instead of supporting the maoists' dahal, it became drastically less likely that the new government would be formed under maoist leadership. their 11th hour withdrawal and support of khanal makes sense, and it actually means the government might get moving, but...you know, that's just such a rare state of affairs in nepali politics.
of course the issue remains that there are only four months left for this government to draft the constitution. to "promulgate the statute in a timely manner", as they put it here, really really major issues have to be resolved. most immediate, and most contentious, is the integration of the PLA into the national security forces (i can't even find one or two links that summarize this back and forth; just google it). there's even a significant difference of opinion between groups as to whether the resolving the integration of combatants and other peace process issues is a prerequisite to writing the constitution or vice versa. you've also got other major hot button issues like federalism and land reform, which have been pushed aside in the attempt to form a government over the last seven months, but which will have to be addressed while writing the constitution.
anyway. it'll be an interesting four months.
of course the issue remains that there are only four months left for this government to draft the constitution. to "promulgate the statute in a timely manner", as they put it here, really really major issues have to be resolved. most immediate, and most contentious, is the integration of the PLA into the national security forces (i can't even find one or two links that summarize this back and forth; just google it). there's even a significant difference of opinion between groups as to whether the resolving the integration of combatants and other peace process issues is a prerequisite to writing the constitution or vice versa. you've also got other major hot button issues like federalism and land reform, which have been pushed aside in the attempt to form a government over the last seven months, but which will have to be addressed while writing the constitution.
anyway. it'll be an interesting four months.
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