The majority of Members of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal have little or no constitution making experience. A good number are women, who constitute one third of the Assembly. To support these members, initiatives such as orientation programmes on rules of procedure and constitutional dialogue are needed. International IDEA is one of the partners invited to support these programmes. 

Constituent Assembly election day in Kathmandu, Nepal, 10 April 2008
Photo ©: Paul Guerin/IDEA

In a meeting at the end of July 2008 with Manohar Bhattarai, Secretary General of the Secretariat of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly, Andrew Ellis, International IDEA’s Director of Operations and Winluck Wahiu, Acting Programme Manager in Nepal, discussed Nepal’s ongoing and historic constitution-building process.

The primary mandate of the Assembly is to draft the new constitutional charter of a democratic, republican Nepal. When promulgated, it will succeed the current Interim Constitution that has been in force since 2006. The Interim Constitution itself has unique features. For instance, on one hand it made party affiliation a condition for participation in constitution making. On the other hand, it required parties to ensure representation quotas for women, ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups. It also provides elaborate mechanisms for the principle of consensus in decision making. The vote for adoption of constitutional articles on a clause by clause basis should be done by supermajority only when consensus on an issue is insufficient. The result of this design is a Constituent Assembly seen – politically and culturally – as widely inclusive.

Constituent Assembly election day in Kathmandu, Nepal, 10 April 2008
Photo ©: Paul Guerin/IDEA

Furthermore, the Assembly doubles as a legislature which has power to amend the Interim Constitution and the responsibility of governmental oversight. In a short period, the Assembly has amended the Interim Constitution three times to facilitate government formation and provide new terms for its removal in a parliamentary context where no single party by itself commands the confidence needed for cabinet stability. As party leaders engaged in intensifying the search for coalitions, the Assembly has met mainly to organize its structures by formulating rules of procedure and appointing its chair and key committees.

The Constituent Assembly faces daunting challenges: Not only must it mediate between mainstream and fringe political forces and balance their conflicting conservative and leftist views of governance, but it must also reconcile nationalist and ethnic claims and accommodate diversity in federal and decentralized areas without tearing the country apart.

In Nepal the Constituent Assembly has two years to draft the Constitution. At the time of the International IDEA visit, three months had lapsed. The sense within the Assembly’s Secretariat was that, once important preliminaries were settled, the drafting of a constitution text could take a relatively short period of time.

Constituent Assembly election day in Kathmandu, Nepal, 10 April 2008
Photo ©: Paul Guerin/IDEA

International IDEA’s visit came at a historic moment for Nepal. The call for a Constituent Assembly was first echoed within political circles in 1958, at the threshold of the country’s first and short lived attempt at democracy. After four more attempts at constitution making, a people’s uprising in 1990 became the driver for democratic transition based on the idea of popular sovereignty. When the rulers drafted a new constitution after some limited popular participation, it didn’t take long before it too was undermined by lack of implementation. It was soon defeated following the onset of a bloody insurgency and usurpation of power through royal proclamation. It was not until 2006 that Nepal finally opted to convene an elected Constituent Assembly to deliberate and draft a new constitution which would found a new peaceful, stable, inclusive, republican and democratic Nepal. Today, the Constituent Assembly in Kathmandu presents the common face of a people’s ardent yearning and their testimonial of the search of diverse groups for shared space in a modern Nepal.