No emergency without JS nod

The National Citizen Party (NCP) has proposed that parliamentary approval be made mandatory to declare a state of emergency.

In its proposals submitted to the National Consensus Commission, the NCP also said an election must be held for a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. The assembly will later transition into the legislature.

The newly-formed party opposed the president's appointment by parliament and proposed setting the minimum age for MP candidates at 23 and the voting age at 16.

It supported replacing the existing four principles of the constitution -- nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism -- with equality, human dignity, social justice, pluralism, and democracy. The party stressed that "pluralism" should be explicitly defined to acknowledge multiple nationalities, religions, languages, and cultures.

Additionally, the NCP sought constitutional recognition for the indigenous communities, proposed the prime minister's advisory role to be non-binding, advocated for curtailing the absolute powers of the prime minister, and recommended that a National Constitutional Council function as the election-period caretaker government.

The party also suggested that the protection of life and nature be considered fundamental rights.

The NCP agreed partially or in total with several proposals, while opposing some key provisions recommended by the Constitution Reform Commission. The party supports many structural changes but with specific modifications.

It opposed certain proposals related to citizenship, electoral policies, and executive powers. It disagreed with the recommendation to change the term "State Language" to "Official Language".

The party also objected to the inclusion of clauses 4.2–4.7 of the Constitution Reform Commission's recommendations regarding the selection process of the chief adviser. Since the chief adviser will be incorporated into the National Constitutional Council, and the council will function as the election-time caretaker government, these clauses would be redundant.

All members of the council, except the president and the previous prime minister, could be eligible to serve, with one of them acting as the chief adviser.

They recommended that the interim government's tenure be limited to 70-75 days.

The NCP has also proposed a mixed electoral system, combining proportional representation (PR) in the senate and a first-past-the-post voting (FPPV) system in the lower house. Under this system, for example, if a party receives 35 percent of the votes nationwide, it will secure 35 seats in the 100-strong upper house or senate.

Additionally, the party opposed the current system of indirect election of the president by lawmakers, suggesting instead that district coordination councils nominate candidates based on a majority vote.

Regarding emergency provisions, the NCP strongly opposed granting the government the authority to declare a state of emergency without parliamentary approval. It also insisted that during an election-period interim government, no state of emergency should be declared.

The party supported abolishing Articles 7A and 7B of the constitution.

Article 7A says a person shall be guilty of sedition for abrogating, repealing, or suspending the constitution or any provisions by any unconstitutional means. Article 7B has made a large number of articles and the preamble "unamendable".

Regarding legislative structure, the NCP accepted the proposal for a 400-seat parliament, with 300 seats open to all candidates and 100 reserved exclusively for women.

They also agreed with the recommendation to establish an upper house, where 100 members would be elected based on the proportion of total votes received, while five would be nominated by the president.

However, the party suggested that all candidates for the upper house should be announced before the lower house elections and that vote percentages should be rounded up to whole numbers if they exceed 0.5 percent.

The party conditionally agreed to some executive branch reforms. While supporting a model where the prime minister is "first among equals" in the cabinet rather than holding absolute authority, they insisted that the president's advisory role should be non-binding.

Moreover, it agreed that a person cannot hold the positions of PM and party chief at the same time.

For the judiciary, the NCP supported establishing an independent Supreme Court Secretariat. It agreed that the Supreme Judicial Council should have the authority to investigate the NCC when necessary.

Additionally, they suggested that the Supreme Court should consider previous annual confidential reports and records of appointments to profit-based positions when reviewing judicial appointments.

Sarwar Tusher, coordinator of the NCP's reform coordination committee, said his party emphasised that most constitutional reforms should be implemented either through a constituent assembly or a dual-function parliament that first serves as a constituent assembly before transitioning into the legislature.

"Our party found this method to be the most logical and precise approach," Tusher, also the joint convenor of the NCP, said.