A Nepali senior official and member of its talks team revealed on Sunday that negotiators are finalizing the interim constitution, which would be ready within a few days.

Pradeep Gyawali, minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said, "Since there are no major differences, we expect to finalize the interim constitution soon."

Gyawali told reporters that many contentious issues such as status of monarchy, interim parliament and interim government have already been resolved by the Nov. 8 agreement.

Gyawali said there were 173 articles in the interim constitution.

Elaborating the process of promulgating the interim statute, Gyawali said, "first we will submit the draft to the top leaders of eight parties. After they approve it, the draft will be endorsed by the cabinet. Then, the draft will be presented to the House of Representatives. The House will promulgate it, thereby dissolving itself and forming a new interim parliament."

As per the Nov. 8 agreement reached by the ruling Seven Party Alliance and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (formerly known as guerrilla), the interim constitution should have been promulgated by Nov. 26.

However, due to prolonged discussion over the arms management accord and delay in sending the CPN combatants to cantonments, the timeline could not be honored.

Source: Xinhua