The 16-point agreement
1. The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal will have
eight provinces based on five criteria of identity and four criteria
of capability.
2. Two-thirds majority of provincial assemblies will
name the provinces.
3. The Nepal government will form a
federal commission to recommend on demarcation of federal provinces.
The commission will have tenure of six months. The Legislature-Parliament
will take a final decision on the demarcation with a two-thirds majority
after the recommendation of the commission.
Parliament and Electoral System
4. There will be a bicameral parliament
comprising federal legislature parliament and the upper house. Provincial
parliaments will be unicameral.
5. Mixed electoral system will be adopted
for parliamentary election. There will be 275 members in Parliament.
There will be 165 constituencies based on geography and population.
A total of 165 lower house members will be elected through first-past-the-post
(FPTP) system. The rest—110–will be elected through the proportional
representation system.
6. The upper house will have 45 members-40
of the members will be elected equally from each federal province. The
remaining five will be nominated by President on the recommendation
of the Council of Ministers.
Forms of Government
7. To run the state affairs, a federal
democratic republic multiparty parliamentary system of governance will
be adopted. The leader of the party having a clear majority or having
support of other parties in Parliament will become the executive prime
minister.
8. There will be a constitutional President
in Nepal. An electoral college of the federal legislature parliament
and provincial assemblies will elect the President.
(The UCPN (Maoist) has its differences
on the parliamentary system of governance and the constitutional president.
Despite this, the party agrees to taking forward the constitution writing
process.)
9. After the promulgation of the new
constitution, the election of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister,
Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be held by the transformed Legislature-Parliament
as per the Interim Constitution-2007.
10. Until the next election of the House
of Representatives, the transformed Legislature-Parliament will hold
the election of the Prime Minister, vote of confidence, no confidence
motion and Cabinet formation as per the Interim Constitution-2007. The
impeachment of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Speaker,
Deputy Speaker will be in accordance with the Interim Constitution-2007.
Judicial System
11. An independent, impartial and efficient
judicial system will be formed as per the concept of independent judiciary.
12. The Supreme Court will be the court
of record. It will be authorised to make final interpretation of the
constitution.
13. A Constitutional Court will be formed
in order to settle disputes on the jurisdictions between the provinces
and the Centre, between provinces, between provinces and local bodies,
and election-related disputes of the House of Representatives, National
Assembly and provincial assemblies. The Constitutional Court shall have
the final decision on these issues. The court will be chaired by the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and will comprise two senior-most
justices, and two legal experts who are qualified for the post of Supreme
Court Justice. The tenure of the Constitutional Court will be 10 years
from the promulgation of the new constitution.
14. The provision on the formation of
the Judicial Council will be as determined by the Interim Constitution-2007.
15. The constitution writing process
will be taken forward based on the spirit of this fundamental agreement
on federalism, forms of government, electoral system, and judicial system.
Local Body Election
16. The election of local bodies will
be held as soon as possible to strengthen the representation and participation
of the people.
Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister and President,
Nepali Congress
KP Sharma Oli, Chairman, CPN-UML
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Chairman, UCPN (Maoist)
Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, Chairman, Madhesi
Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik
(Unofficial translation of the agreement
signed by the leaders of the four parties on Monday night)
Source: NP
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