Top leaders to seal deal on Regmi-led 'election mechanism' today

Leaders of four major political forces are preparing to ink a deal on forming a high-level mechanism to make preparations for fresh CA elections within May.

The leaders, who have already reached an informal agreement to appoint Chief Justice Khilraj Regmi as head of the mechanism, will formally recommend the President to remove constitutional hurdles for Regmi to lead the government as 'Chief Executive' -- not Prime Minister, leaders have said.

The informal agreement reached yesterday could not be converted into a formal accord as the CPN-UML standing committee failed to decide the party's position on the Maoist proposal for an election government headed by the sitting Chief Justice.

The standing committee members were apparently divided over the idea of the CJ-led government. Standing committee members close to senior leader KP Sharma Oli are known to have opposed the idea while party chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and a few other leaders said the party should remain open to different options including this.

Amid differences, the party has called a meeting of the central committee on Friday.

Leaders close to chairman Khanal believe that the central committee will endorse the Maoist proposal, and a four-party accord will be inked by Friday night.

However, it is not still clear whether the CJ will resign from his post to head the mechanism, as being demanded by Nepali Congress. nepalnews.com