NC candidate may win presidential poll; Maoists suffer setback

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Jul 19 (PTI) Maoists Saturday suffered a major
setback in their bid to secure the Presidentship for their
candidate as two key parties sprang a last-minute surprise by
throwing weight behind Nepali Congress' choice Ram Baran Yadav
who is likely to win the historic poll for the top post
Sunady.

The Madhesi People's Rights Forum (M.P.R.F.), the fourth
largest party in the Constituent Assembly, broke their
alliance with the C.P.N.-Maoist to back, along with the
C.P.N.-U.M.L. (Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist
Leninist), the Nepali Congress candidate Yadav, as the voting
got underway in the 594-member House.

The Nepali Congress and C.P.N.-U.M.L. also decided to
support the candidature of M.P.R.F. candidate Paramananda Jha
for the post of Vice President.

The three parties have a combined strength of 274 and
with the support of other smaller parties they may cross the
300-mark in the assembly, analysts said.

"We will cross the magic number of 298 to elect the
President," said Nepali Congress Vice President Gopalman
Shrestha. "We have also received support from smaller
parties."

B. P. Yadav, an M.P.R.F. leader, also said: "We have
decided to back Nepali Congress candidate Ram Baran Yadav for
President."

Earlier, Maoists's candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh was
expected to win the election after Madhesi parties had
promised to back him.

The Nepali Congress and C.P.N.-U.M.L., the second and
third largest parties respectively after Maoists, however,
decided to forge an alliance with other groups, preventing the
former rebels from getting the post of the first president of
Nepal.

The Secretary-General's recent report to the Council
points out that U.N.M.I.N. has drawn up a contingency plan for
a "radically downsized mission," which would result in a
reduction of at least 70 per cent in the substantive staffing
of the Mission.

"Our plans envisage that if the Council extends
U.N.M.I.N.'s mandate, the Special Representative will continue
to be supported by a Political Affairs Section, while the Arms
Monitoring Office will continue at approximately half its
previous establishment of 186 arms monitors," Martin said.

The Council is expected to take up the extension of
U.N.M.I.N.'s mandate next week.

The Special Representative also expressed concern about
how quickly the new government will be able to move forward in
carrying out the June 25 agreement, which depends greatly on
the degree of multi-party cooperation.

According to Martin, the other challenges facing Nepal
are the lack of progress in delivering on compensation for
victims of the conflict, investigation of disappearances, and
return of property and of displaced persons to their homes.