The Election Commission on Monday announced March 9 as the date for the election of new President and March 17 for electing Vice President.

With the commission’s announcement, competition among political parties for the coveted posts is likely to further heat up.

While the two largest parties in the legislature, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, each seek the help of the third-largest party, the CPN (Maoist Centre), in their respective bids for presidency, the Maoist Centre wants to capitalise on the uncertainty.

The elections for President and Vice President are based on a weighted voting system. The electoral college for the presidential and vice-presidential polls has 884 members, including 275 from the House of Representatives (lower house), 59 from the National Assembly (upper house) and 550 members from the seven provincial assemblies.

In the election for President, a vote cast by a member of both upper and lower houses will be considered to have the weightage of 79 votes whereas a vote cast by a member of the provincial assembly will carry the weight of 48 (the weightage ratio is expected to change based on the new population published in the new census).

In the weighted voting system for the President, the Maoist Centre, which has a total of 47 lower and upper house seats, and 82 seats in the provincial assemblies, will play a decisive role. The party is, therefore, looking at three qualities a possible candidate for President should have, said Matrika Yadav, a deputy general secretary of the party.

“The Maoist Centre expects the new President to help resolve the remaining issues of the peace process, support the current constitution and the federal republic system, and play a coordinating role in a challenging political situation that may develop from a hung parliament,” Yadav said.

Though two transitional justice bodies were established in 2015 and are still in existence, they have failed to resolve all the issues related to the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

The truth commission has received 63,718 complaints, while the disappearance commission has 3,223 complaints in its docket.

Although the Maoist Centre had earlier agreed to cede the presidency to a UML nominee in exchange for the latter’s backing for Dahal’s prime ministerial bid, Dahal now has publicly disowned that possibility, saying that political ground realities have shifted, making the two-party understanding irrelevant.

Dahal changed his tone after the largest party, the Nepali Congress, gave him a trust vote in parliament on January 10. After that, Dahal has been publicly saying that he would try his best to elect the next President, based on consensus. But Dahal’s change of heart has irked UML, his major coalition partner.

The majority of the Maoist Centre party leaders speaking at the Standing Committee meeting that kicked off on January 26 also called for national consensus on the new President.

Meanwhile, some Maoist Centre leaders have said that in the changed context ( after the trust vote by Congress), the Maoist party has room to claim full term as prime minister for Dahal in return for the party’s support to one of the other two parties’ bid for the country’s top constitutional post.

“The party now has a chance to negotiate for a full-term premiership for Dahal as both the Congress and the UML have shown tremendous interest in securing the presidential position,” a party leader told the Post on the condition of anonymity. “As the President serves for five years, it should be the same for the prime minister.”

However, Haribol Gajurel, political advisor to prime minister Dahal, who is also deputy general secretary of the Maoist Centre, said there had been no such discussions in the party. "I don't think the party will claim a full term for prime minister in return for its support to any other party in the President election.”

UML leaders deny the possibility of any negotiation on the presidential position on the condition of giving a full-term prime ministership to Dahal. Rather, a leader close to UML chair KP Sharma Oli recalled the context in which Dahal had joined hands with Oli to become prime minister.

As per the existing understanding between the UML and the Maoist Centre, Dahal’s party should vote for UML’s presidential candidate and hand over prime ministership to UML chair Oli after two and a half years.

“Dahal met with our party chief Oli after India pressured Congress not to let him [Dahal] become prime minister from the Congress-led coalition,” the UML leader told the Post on the condition of anonymity. “On January 16, the day of cabinet expansion, they had a five-hour meeting during which the presidential election was one of the main agendas.”

The UML leader quoted Oli as saying, "The external power that prevented you from becoming prime minister is now attempting to rig the election of the President.” Oli questioned Dahal: “Are we electing the President on our own or again falling into their trap?"

Prime Minister Dahal agrees that other forces shouldn't be permitted to interfere in the presidential election.

Meanwhile, UML Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai said the two parties' leadership has already settled the matter and there is no question of further negotiation on presidency.

“There is no confusion between Prime Minister Dahal and our party chair Oli over the presidential position,” Bhattarai told the Post. “As the Nepali Congress has given a vote of confidence to the prime minister, he and his party might have said that the election of the President should be based on consensus. They may be obligated to say so, but it will be the UML candidate who will be elected the President.”

However, Congress’ spokesperson Prakash Saran Mahat said his party expects Prime Minister Dahal’s help in the presidential election.

“We have seen how incumbent President Bidya Devi Bhandari has politicised the presidency to achieve her personal goals. So we want to elect a President who works based on democratic principles,” Mahat said.

Mahat also said that the Maoist Centre had set no condition such as a full-term prime ministership for Dahal in return for its support to a Congress candidate for President. “We will discuss such a proposal as and if it comes.”