Kathmandu - Nepalese politicians Monday vowed to draft the
country's new constitution by May 2010.
The announcement came after the country's powerful constituent
assembly adopted a programme of schedules to draft the constitution
showing rare signs of cooperation among the political parties on
Sunday.
Chairman of the assembly Subash Nembang said the schedule lays out
plans spread over 82 weeks leading to the formal promulgation by
May 2010.
'The task of drafting the constitution begins from Monday by
forming committees which will seek out issues and suggestions that
will be incorporated into the new constitution,' Nembang said.
'We should have all the issues ready by April 2009 and will then
be forwarded to the constituent assembly for discussions before
adoption,' Nembang said.
The new constitution will be formally promulgated by Nepal's
president.
The adoption of the schedule came amid growing concerns in Nepal
over delays in starting work on a new constitution mainly due to
growing differences between the Nepali Congress party and the Maoists.
The Constituent Assembly was elected in April with the main task
of drafting a new constitution within two and half years. Following
its elections, the assembly voted to abolish monarchy by
an overwhelming majority.
The constituent assembly was one of the main demands of the
Maoists during their decade long insurgency.
But despite the growing insurgency, successive elected governments
rejected the demand saying the constitution promulgated in 1991 could
not be replaced and there was no need for such a body.
However, political parties changed their views on monarchy after
King Gyanendra grabbed power in 2005 and jailed several prominent
politicians.
The Maoists formally gave up fighting after a mass protest toppled
Gyanendra's government paving the way for former rebels to enter
mainstream politics.
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