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Participation in Constitution Making


View this page in Nepali.

Traditionally constitutions have been given by kings or conquerors or victors to the country. This was true in Nepal too. But most recent constitutions have been made by more participatory methods. The people have been involved, either directly or through representatives they have chosen. There are various ways in which such participation can take place:

  1. the people can elect their representatives in the same way as they would to a parliament
  2. the people can elect representatives to make a new constitution but in rather different ways - perhaps electing some members from civil society organizations rather then through partiers only
  3. the people can be consulted and have the chance to express their views - both before the draft constitution is prepared, and after a draft has been prepared but before the final decisions are made
  4. the final draft can be submitted to a referendum (as the new Thai constitution has just been submitted).

The first two ways are important - but they are rather limited. Many modern constitution making processes have involved far more active participation by the people. There was a good deal of discussion about the importance of participation during the first CASU conference (click here for the report of that conference).

The Interim Constitution of Nepal lays out the basic process for the preparation of a new Constitution through the Constituent Assembly. You can read the provisions on this topic here in English and here in Nepali. The Interim Constitution does say that the constitution is to be made by the people of Nepal through the Constituent Assembly.

Much of the discussion since the jana andolan II has been about how the people are to be represented in the Assembly. In fact the Interim Constitution was amended to make the Assembly more inclusive, though it will still not be fully representative of the people. You can read some more about the procedure under which the members of the Constituent Assembly will be elected here.

But the Interim Constitution does not say anything about how the people will be involved in the actual working of the Constituent Assembly. Will the Assembly hold public hearings? Will it, or part of it, travel around the country to find out what the people are thinking? Will there be a draft constitution for the people to discuss and at what stage will this be made available?

Will there be a referendum? This is not entirely clear, though it seems unlikely. You can read a little more about this here.

Further reading
For some more reading on participation you can read "A participatory process for making a new constitution" by Yash Ghai, either in a short version (published in the Himalaya Times) Or a longer version in English or in Nepali(संविधान निर्माण प्रक्रियामा जनसहभागिता)

You can also read about women's participation in some other constitution making processes: click here.

The International NGO Conciliation Resources published a special issue of its journal Accord on Owning the process: Public participation in peacemaking.
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