The Constituent Assembly of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has failed to deliver a Constitution for the country by the stipulated deadline as its term expires on Friday, two years after it was tasked with the process.
A meeting of the ruling CPN (UML) said Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal would address the House on Friday.
The Constituent Assembly was formed on May 28, 2008 but it made a timetable to present a new Constitution only in November that year and it got a chairman for the constitutional committee two months later. The process got further delayed by the political turmoil in the country. The committee's work got affected when Madhav Kumar Nepal who was heading the constitutional committee became the Prime Minister after Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' resigned from the post, leaving the earlier post vacant for three months.
Nilamber Acharya became a new chairman of the committee in August 2009.
Political parties differ on various issues such as state restructuring and judiciary. When parties could not see eye to eye on the number of states for New Nepal, the Maoists on their own declared 14 autonomous states. The Maoists have prepared a draft of the new constitution, which they intend to launch on May 29, marking the Republic Day. The government has asked all the political parties to vote for an amendment Bill that seeks extension of the term of the Assembly. But the Maoists want the Prime Minister's resignation first. Mr. Nepal says he will not resign for the sake of extension. The Nepali Congress, a major coalition partner, also maintains that resignation should not be a pre-condition to extension of the term.
About a dozen political parties on Thursday requested the Maoists to agree to extend the CA's term. Sources say the Prime Minister will resign and the CA's term extended on Friday.
