NEPAL: Nepal's elections for an assembly to draw up a new constitution are delayed indefinitely

Nepal's elections for an assembly to draw up a new constitution have been delayed after the ruling coalition failed on Friday (October 5) to break a political deadlock with Maoist former rebels. Leaders of the seven main parties decided to suspend the ballot indefinitely following talks in Nepal on Friday. "We came to wait for the decision of a special parliament meeting which is being requested by 87 of us together on various other issues," said Krishna Bahadur, spokesman of the Maoist Party . "The constituent assembly election will certainly take place, but we had to put our demands for the adoption of a proportionate type of election procedure and republican issue. Those issues will be finalized in the special parliament meeting, after that decision all the election procedures will be adopted," Bahadur added. The delay is a major blow to a November peace deal that ended the Maoists' decade-long civil war against the monarchy -- a revolt that caused more than 13,000 deaths. The Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), which fought for 10 years to overthrow the monarchy, expressed their regrets to come to the decision on Friday. The Maoists said they remain committed to democracy and will not return to insurgency. But it was unclear when the election, originally scheduled for November 22, would be held. "The Nepal government has indefinitely postponed it, but to avoid uncertainty the Election Commission has cancelled it." said Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, the Nepali of Election Commission spokesperson. A small group of protesters gathered outside the Election Commission on Friday to demand change of the election system in Nepal. "The mixed type of election is a conspiracy to the Madheshis, the indigenous people, certain castes, and women. We came here to destroy that, we do not want that mixed type of election procedure. We need the proportionate type of election procedure," said Bidya Sinha, a Madheshi Janadhijar Forum activist. The election was a key demand of the Maoists during their civil war, who wanted the assembly to abolish the monarchy and give them what they had been fighting for since 1996, which is a republic. But the Maoists walked out of the government last month, after the other political parties opposed fresh demands to abolish the monarchy ahead of the elections and introduce full proportional representation. Analysts said the Maoists' decision to leave the government and introduce new demands highlighted the growing pains of rebels who spent years in the jungles of Nepal but now face the possibility of losing an election as they enter the mainstream. Later on Friday, about 1,500 supporters of the Communist Party of Nepal-UML, a key constituent of the ruling alliance, marched in Kathmandu protesting against the delay. Influential neighbour India, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations, key donors to Nepal, said they were disappointed over the delay.

ITN Source | October 6, 2007

Tags:. .forum. .failed. .blow. .analysts. .representation