Sitting trust at the table of negotiations in Nepal

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006 and Nepal’s Constituent Assembly (CA) elections two years later ended a decade of Maoist insurgency and civil war, popular protest and constitutional stalemate. The resulting popularly elected 601-member Constituent Assembly formed in 2008 comprised 33 per cent women, 8 per cent Dalit (up from 0), and the Maoist party becoming the biggest party in the legislature and the Constituent Assembly. The first meeting of the CA also ended the centuries old monarchy and declared Nepal a republic.

Through the provision of a non partisan platform for dialogue, International IDEA has been supporting Nepal since 2006, working with political parties and civil society to design and to elect the Constituent Assembly and build the new constitution. In facilitating the dialogues, IDEA has been pushing for a Constituent Assembly and a constitution that is gender inclusive and supports the rights of minorities and ethnic groups, and provided its published works that contain comparative experiences from other countries around the world.

Given the fractures within Nepalese society these processes have not always gone smoothly – underlining the need to build mutual trust before any consensus can be formed. For example, although the agenda about rights, inclusion, selfdetermination, accountability and responsiveness is, by and large, shared by the political parties at the level of election manifestos and submissions, a degree of elite resistance still exists. The question remains whether the party elites are able and visionary enough to draft and agree on a constitution which realises these goals, even if this goes against their immediate interests.

Once the CA began its work, it formed various thematic committees that were charged with preparing preliminary drafts and concept papers for the new constitution. These committees consulted many different organizations and individuals, and sought the opinions of people from all districts including Nepalese living abroad. Studies and research carried out by various national and international institutions were also taken into account, together with the views from political parties, experts, civil society bodies, professional organizations and others. Public consultations are planned to be held on the first draft constitution as well.

At the CA’s bidding, International IDEA and the Nepal Law Society put together an expert team to analyze and prepare commentaries on the draft concept papers and preliminary drafts of the constitution from a legal perspective. The political issues on the other hand were reviewed by a team – consisting of members of the Constituent Assembly – representing the different political parties. The resulting commentaries provided suggestions, and identified and analyzed outstanding issues and concerns arising from the texts for consideration by the Assembly.

Although the original timetable envisaged for the new constitution to be promulgated was May 2010, the process at the time of writing has been delayed for a further year due to a number of political differences that are presently being resolved.