NEPAL: SIXTH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT REGARDING

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001281 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2018 TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP SUBJECT: NEPAL: SIXTH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT REGARDING BY-ELECTIONS APPROVED Classified By: Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Reasons 1.4 (b/d) Constitution Amended; By-Election Language Spelled Out -------------- -------------- ¶1. (U) On December 11, Nepal's Constituent Assembly (CA) overwhelmingly approved the sixth set of amendments to the Interim Constitution from January 2007. The 6th Amendment made the following substantive changes: -- Authorized the President (vice the Prime Minister) to call the CA into session if at least one-fourth of the MPs request a session (Article 51). (Note: In all other instances, the President calls the session on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. End Note.) -- Elaborated on which vacancies were covered by by-elections and revised the cut-off date for determining who could vote in the by-elections from mid-December 2006 to mid-April 2008 (Article 63),allowing those who turned 18 since 2006 to vote. Comment -------------- ¶2. (C) Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Emboff December 11 that he expected the by-elections in the six constituencies where there are vacancies to take place in the March to April time frame, roughly a year after the April 2007 Constituent Assembly election. Five of the seats are vacant because candidates won two first-past-the-post races and had to give up one seat. The sixth vacancy came about when Ram Baran Yadav gave up his CA seat in July to become President. It is disappointing, to say the least, that the by-elections are unlikely to happen until a full year since the CA election. With that lack of progress as a benchmark, it certainly doesn't bode well for the constitution-drafting process -- which also has not yet begun seven months after the CA was first seated. POWELL