[EDITORIALS]It’s time for bipartisanship

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[EDITORIALS]It’s time for bipartisanship

A special session of the National Assembly begins tomorrow. It is the first time that lawmakers will be getting together this year and the first gathering since party leaders declared that they would steer clear of conflict and concentrate on putting life into the domestic economy.
This will be an opportunity to test whether the politicians can improve on their past performance and actually carry out their promises. But after successfully overcoming conflict with their partners, the solutions now lies within themselves. Even before the parties have had a chance to face each other in the Assembly, both Uri and the Grand National Party are having trouble deciding on which political line they should follow.
Fierce debate is taking place within the Uri Party over the practical stance of its leadership as more progressive lawmakers are dreading that reform legislation, like the abolishment of the National Security Law, will take a back seat amid all the talk about a more lenient stance. They are also asking the leadership to clarify positions, including whether to ease limitations on investments and pardon the window-dressing in corporate accounts.
The governing party has prepared a total of 56 proposals for the special session that aims to enhance the public’s livelihood and the economy. But how the demands of the hard-line progressives are tuned with the leadership’s practical side will decide how many of the bills will actually pass by the end of the session. In short, the complicated situation within Uri Party will affect the speed and intensity of efforts to boost the economy.
Things are not too different in the opposing conservative party. With the untimely debate over the party’s identity, there is a good deal of divisiveness when it comes to policy-making. As a result, the Grand National Party has failed to decide on a party line despite the special session just before it. With the National Security Law, the Uri and Grand National parties joined in four-way talks late last year and decided on how to approach the matter, but the Grand National Party has failed to come up with a party line. The promises of no political strife have transformed into no alternatives.
We have no intention of disputing the complicated internal relations within the Uri and Grand National parties. However the problems must not lead to a negative effect on the lives of ordinary people.
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