The National Citizen Party (NCP) has reiterated its firm stance on ensuring a legal foundation for the July Charter before signing it, emphasizing that the Charter must not remain a mere political understanding without legal validity.
In a statement issued by the party, NCP extended greetings to the nation and the media, reminding that it had earlier refrained from signing the July Charter until the draft implementation order was made public. “We have consistently said that NCP will consider signing only after reviewing the draft of the implementation order of the July Charter,” the statement read.
The party observed that its uncompromising position has contributed to the National Consensus Commission recently recommending an implementation framework of the July Charter to the government. The NCP welcomed the Commission’s efforts, stating that its determination to establish a legal basis for the Charter had influenced this development.
According to the Commission’s recommendations, two separate frameworks were proposed—one for non-constitutional reforms and another for constitutional amendments. The NCP urged the interim government to act promptly on the non-constitutional reforms, as the Commission has already submitted the relevant draft notifications and ordinances.
However, the party highlighted that 48 reform proposals are directly related to constitutional amendments, which have been the main subject of ongoing discussions. The Commission submitted two separate draft proposals for these constitutional reforms. The NCP urged the government to adopt Proposal-1, as it includes a crucial clause (Section 8(ঙ)) stipulating that if the Constitutional Reform Council fails to complete its work within the stipulated time, the adopted reform bill will automatically be considered approved and enforced as law. “This provision ensures the mandatory implementation of the referendum mandate and has precedents in many countries,” the statement explained.
The party warned that Proposal-2 lacks such clarity, which could derail the entire reform process. Therefore, it called on the government to accept Proposal-1 as the implementation framework. The NCP also pointed out several linguistic ambiguities in Proposal-1 that need correction—for instance, replacing “may exercise” with “shall exercise” in Section 8(ক), and clarifying the wording in Section 8(ঘ) to eliminate interpretive confusion.
Furthermore, the party stressed the need for the prompt drafting and public release of the proposed “Constitutional Reform Bill” that was approved through referendum.
Through the press statement, the NCP called on the government to:
- Adopt Proposal-1 recommended by the National Consensus Commission to ensure the legal foundation of the July Charter.
- Initiate the drafting and public release of the Constitutional Reform Bill.
- Recognize that once the government accepts a legally binding draft order for implementing the July Charter, progress toward NCP’s formal signing of the Charter will be possible.
