The first president - Nepali Times

DEEPENDRA BAJRACHARYA

ONE NEPAL: A Grade One student in Dhading poses for a picture in front of a map of Nepal on his classroom wall last week.

In a dramatic last-minute turnaround, the Maoists on Thursday dumped the NC and UML and placed veteran Madhesi republican, Ram Raja Prasad Singh, as their candidate for president.

Even though ideologically opposed to the Maoists, Madhesi parties immediately supported Singh's candidature, making it almost certain that Nepal's first president will be from the plains.

The fact that the NC presidential candidate (Ram Baran Yadav) and the UML (Ramprit Paswan) are Madhesis shows the importance of the Tarai vote bank for all three parties. Although the post is ceremonial, the president is the nominal commander-in-chief.

The arithmetic of the 594 voting members of the house will now mean that the Maoists with 229 seats and the Madhesi parties with 88 could easily muster the majority needed for Singh to win in the secret balloting on Saturday.

The candidates registered in a last-minute scramble before the 1PM deadline on Thursday at the CA secretariat. For vice-president, the Maoists have fielded Shanta Shrestha, a former K P Bhattarai aide who later became a Maoist MP in the interim parliament, while the NC put forward Man Bahadur Biswokarma and the UML Astha Laxmi Shakya.

Thursday's drama was a result of the unraveling of the UML-Maoist alliance after the UML refused to give up the proposed joint-candidate, Madhab Kumar Nepal. The Maoists had asked the UML to come up with a name that would be "inclusive".

The NC probably hopes to split the Madhesi vote with its candidate, but Ram Baran Yadav is not popular among Madhesi CA members for having refused to defect from the NC.

Analysts believe that Ram Raja Prasad Singh being elected will go a long way in addressing the grievances of Tarai Nepalis who feel discriminated by Kathmandu, and could narrow the widening gulf between the hills and the plains.

Stung by being let down by the Maoists, the UML once more declared that it will not join the government. Although the deadlock over presidentship is now over, the UML and NC feel humiliated and will try to make it difficult for the Maoists in government formation next week. Friday will see hectic lobbying by all three parties.