NEPAL: MOST OF THE CA'S APPOINTED MEMBERS SWORN IN

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000785 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV NP SUBJECT: NEPAL: MOST OF THE CA'S APPOINTED MEMBERS SWORN IN Summary -------------- ¶1. (U) On July 7, Acting Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Kul Bahadur Gurung swore in 23 of the Assembly's 26 appointed members. The three remaining appointed members are expected to be sworn in within the next few days. The cabinet approved all 26 on July 4. Once the three are sworn in, the 601-member Assembly will only be missing the occupants of one seat which has been contested in the CA Election Court and the five seats where by-elections are required. Breakdown of Appointed Members by Parties -------------- ¶2. (U) The Interim Government distributed the appointed members to parties based on the results of the direct election; the breakdown largely resembles the greater CA. The four largest parties were all authorized seats: the Maoists nine, the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) five each, the Madhesi People's Rights Forum two and the Terai Madhes Democratic Party one. The four minor parties in the governing Seven Party Alliance (which were not the next highest ranking in terms of number of votes) -- namely the Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist-Leninist (CPN(ML)),the Nepal Sadbhavana Party-Anandidevi (NSP-A),the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, and People's Front -- received one seat each. Key Figures Among the Appointed Members -------------- ¶3. (U) A number of prominent Nepali leaders were among the 26 appointed members, including Hari Rokka, a leftist intellectual and Padma Jyoti, a chief Nepali industrialist, both Maoists. The CPN (ML) nominated Rajendra Khetan, another prominent industrialist. Key figures in current and former governments were also prominent in the group, including Minister of Commerce Shyam Sundar Gupta (NSP-A), former Chief Justice Bishwanath Upadhyaya (NC),former Minister for Local Development Mahesh Chaudhari (UML),and former Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare Kamala Pant (NC). Party leaders Mahanta Thakur of the Terai Madhes Democratic Party and Narayan Kaji Shrestha of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) - Unity Center Masal, as well as the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) chairman Pasang Lama received seats. (Note: Mahanta Thakur is the only member out of the 26 who was appointed after losing a seat in a first-past-the-post election. CPN-Unity Center Masal is the formerly underground counterpart to the above ground People's Front. End note.) Comment -------------- ¶4. (U) The Interim Constitution initially provided that the cabinet would appoint 17 members of the Constituent Assembly, to be selected from among Nepal's "prominent national figures." However, in response to demands from Nepali janajati (indigenous nationality) groups, the Third Amendment to the Interim Constitution, ratified on December 28, 2007, increased the number of appointed members to 26 and required that they be from those indigenous communities that did not have a representative elected. Rather than fully adhering to this amendment, however, the composition of the appointed group is a compromise between the original language and the updated requirement. Only 13 of the 26 appointed members are janajati, and many are from traditionally privileged castes. BERRY