Nepal dissents from two decisions
KATHMANDU, Nov. 7: CPN(UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal wrote a note of dissent on two major decisions reached today by the Seven Party Alliance and the CPN-Maoists after the historic summit talks.
Contrary to the decision of the historic peace talks to determine the fate of monarchy by the Constituent Assembly and the use of a mixed system for voting in the CA elections, the party maintained its stance that the fate of monarchy must be decided through a referendum and the proportional system should be preferred for the elections.
"This is our stance because we believe that all parties have the right to voice their concern and views in a democratic set up,"Nepal said.
He, however, said that all parties need to move ahead by upholding the spirit of the historic agreement reached today.
Nepal said the differing opinions on some of the issues could always be dealt with later. "The major issue to focus on is peace, the unity of the political parties has not been affected by UML's decision on the two issues,"he said.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.