Nepalese politicians vow to draft new constitution by 2010

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.