Nepal approves new constitution after years of debate
Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepal was putting the final touches to its long-awaited new constitution Thursday, after the approval of the draft and ahead of the proclamation of the final text, officials said.
The articles were to be rearranged and edited by the leaders of the main parties, the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee said, after the draft was endorsed by majority in the Constituent Assembly late Wednesday.
It is Nepal's first constitution to be written by elected representatives, after the previous six were drafted by panels of crown-appointed experts.
The constitution will come into force on September 20.
Drawing up a new charter was one of the clauses of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord that ended the decade-long Maoist insurgency and paved the way for the former rebels to join politics.
More than 17,000 people died in the conflict.
"We have endorsed the country to be enshrined as a federal democratic republican state and this is no ordinary feat," said Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former insurgency leader and current chief of the Unified Maoist party.
In the most contentious clause of the document, the text divides Nepal into seven federal states,
The divisions have drawn protests in the southern plains, where people want a model that ensures their ethnic groups greater autonomy.
Nearly 40 people were killed in the past month of clashes, including policemen and minors. On Tuesday, a four-year-old child died in police cross-fire, and three people were fatally injured.
Leaders representing the plains-based parties boycotted Wednesday's vote.
