Dahal says elected Prez will exercise more executive powers than PM in mixed system

Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Contradicting the statements of the leaders of the Nepali Congress and the UML regarding Tuesday's three-party agreement, Maoist chairman told party's central committee member that the elected President will exercise more executive rights than the prime minister who will be elected from the parliament.

Speaking in the CC meeting held at party headquarters, Paris Danda, the Maoist chairman said that denying executive rights to popularly elected president would mean undermining the electorate. Arguments that giving more executive rights to the president would make him authoritarian are illogical, Dahal said.

On the other hand, leaders of the NC and the UML have said that the prime minister will have more executive rights than the president even as the two will be sharing powers in the mixed governance system that was agreed upon by the three major parties on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Dahal has also contradicted the news reports on the boundaries of the federal states as agreed yesterday.

"The agreement has been misinterpreted," Maoist spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma quoted Dahal as saying in the CC meeting, "The boundaries of the provinces will be determined based on the report of the CA's thematic committee."

The hardliner Mohan Baidya faction boycotted the CC meeting. Spokesperson Sharma said all the CC members were informed about the meeting but Baidya faction did not participate. nepalnews.com