Democracy For Nepal: The President Should Declare An Emergency

Friday, May 08, 2009

The President Should Declare An Emergency

Phone Marathon II (2005)
Phone Marathon: Called Up Delhi (2005)

If the parliament will not bring forth a new government - either a majority government or an all party government - by the deadline - tomorrow - there will be but one option left: presidential rule. The president will have to go ahead and declare an emergency.

The emergency rule would last six months.
No political leader would be arrested.
Freedom of speech will stay intact.
Right to peaceful assembly will stay intact.
After six months the parliament will have the option again to bring forth either a majority government or an all party government.

Three Big Advantages

The president gets to run the country. He need not assemble his cabinet from inside the parliament. He can assemble a team of technocrats.
The political parties and the parliament get to work on a new constitution, which is what they were elected to do in the first place.
The country gets a taste of an executive presidency which is what we should shoot for in a new constitution. We don't need a new government every year. We want a directly elected president who stays in power for four years.