No excuses now

The new Parliament has the responsibility to make up for its predecessors’ non-performance.

The new House of Representatives will formally take full shape on Thursday, with the Election Commission set to provide certificates to 110 lawmakers elected under the proportional representation system. Then, next week, all 275 members will take the oath of office, as they begin their five-year term as parliamentarians. It will also mark the start of their test as lawmakers. Two parliaments elected after the promulgation of the constitution in 2015 were underperformers. The first federal parliament, elected in 2017, gave a thumping majority to the alliance of CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre), which later merged into the Nepal Communist Party. The NCP had close to two-thirds parliamentary majority. However, the tussle among its top leaders greatly undermined the party’s electoral mandate. Then-NCP chair and prime minister twice dissolved the House, in 2020 and 2021. Even as the Supreme Court reinstated it on both occasions, parliamentary proceedings were affected. The reinstated lower house was focused on making and unmaking governments. Also, the UML, which was ousted from the government, resorted to months-long parliament obstruction as a protest over different issues. Consequently, the parliament could not focus on lawmaking.