Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08KATHMANDU593
2008-05-27 11:32:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:
NEPAL: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEMBERS SWORN IN
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UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000593
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEMBERS SWORN IN
Constituent Assembly Sworn In
-----------------------------
UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000593
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEMBERS SWORN IN
Constituent Assembly Sworn In
--------------
1. (U) Beginning at 2:00 p.m. local time, on May 27, 567
persons elected in Nepal's historic April 10 election were
sworn in as members of what will be a 601-member Constituent
Assembly (CA). The ceremony, took place in Kathmandu's
Birendra International Conference Center (BICC),which will
be the Assembly seat. The second oldest member of the
Assembly, Nepali Congress (NC) Member of Parliament Kul
Bahadur Gurung, 73, from Ilam district in eastern Nepal, took
the oath of office first and then administered the oath to
the other members. The oath was taken in more than 40
languages, but all members had to sign a copy of the oath in
Nepali. Prime Minister -- and acting head of state -- G.P.
Koirala, who was elected on the NC's proportional
representation list, is 83, but the parties agreed that he
should not also be the Chair of the Assembly. The day,
however, did not go off without incident. A late afternoon
socket bomb explosion at Ratna Park in downtown Kathmandu
reportedly injured five. Civil society groups are organizing
an event in the park on May 28 to celebrate the expected
declaration of a republic at the first meeting of the
Assembly. Ranabir Sena, a little-known Hindu fundamentalist
group, has claimed responsibility for the blast as well as
two socket bomb explosions on May 26 outside the BICC.
Thirty-three Vacancies
--------------
2. (U) Thirty-three seats in the Assembly are vacant. The
parties have yet to reach agreement on the 26 seats to be
appointed by the cabinet, but the formula under consideration
would allocate those seats to the largest parties in the CA
roughly on the basis of their relative strength. The
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) would get 9 seats, the
Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal - United
Marxist Leninist 5 each, with the remaining 7 divided among
the fourth to ninth largest parties. Five seats are vacant
because of the need for by-elections where candidates won in
two constituencies. In two cases, elections were held but
the CA Court has stayed the certification of the winning
candidate and barred the purported winners from taking their
seats. (In one case, the margin of victory was only 21 votes
while in the other vote rigging has been alleged as some
wards reported more votes cast than registered voters.)
Finally, one of the CA's two independent candidates, Baban
Singh, faces arrest on several murder cases. His failure to
attend the ceremony was not unexpected.
POWELL
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEMBERS SWORN IN
Constituent Assembly Sworn In
--------------
1. (U) Beginning at 2:00 p.m. local time, on May 27, 567
persons elected in Nepal's historic April 10 election were
sworn in as members of what will be a 601-member Constituent
Assembly (CA). The ceremony, took place in Kathmandu's
Birendra International Conference Center (BICC),which will
be the Assembly seat. The second oldest member of the
Assembly, Nepali Congress (NC) Member of Parliament Kul
Bahadur Gurung, 73, from Ilam district in eastern Nepal, took
the oath of office first and then administered the oath to
the other members. The oath was taken in more than 40
languages, but all members had to sign a copy of the oath in
Nepali. Prime Minister -- and acting head of state -- G.P.
Koirala, who was elected on the NC's proportional
representation list, is 83, but the parties agreed that he
should not also be the Chair of the Assembly. The day,
however, did not go off without incident. A late afternoon
socket bomb explosion at Ratna Park in downtown Kathmandu
reportedly injured five. Civil society groups are organizing
an event in the park on May 28 to celebrate the expected
declaration of a republic at the first meeting of the
Assembly. Ranabir Sena, a little-known Hindu fundamentalist
group, has claimed responsibility for the blast as well as
two socket bomb explosions on May 26 outside the BICC.
Thirty-three Vacancies
--------------
2. (U) Thirty-three seats in the Assembly are vacant. The
parties have yet to reach agreement on the 26 seats to be
appointed by the cabinet, but the formula under consideration
would allocate those seats to the largest parties in the CA
roughly on the basis of their relative strength. The
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) would get 9 seats, the
Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal - United
Marxist Leninist 5 each, with the remaining 7 divided among
the fourth to ninth largest parties. Five seats are vacant
because of the need for by-elections where candidates won in
two constituencies. In two cases, elections were held but
the CA Court has stayed the certification of the winning
candidate and barred the purported winners from taking their
seats. (In one case, the margin of victory was only 21 votes
while in the other vote rigging has been alleged as some
wards reported more votes cast than registered voters.)
Finally, one of the CA's two independent candidates, Baban
Singh, faces arrest on several murder cases. His failure to
attend the ceremony was not unexpected.
POWELL