Maoist leaders and Nepal’s ruling parties agreed Friday to postpone upcoming elections in the Himalayan nation, a move that ends one political crisis but still leaves the two sides deadlocked over a series of other issues.
The Election Commission Friday decided to cancel all election programmes after the government asked it to suspend the Constituent Assembly elections slated for November 22.This is the second time that the Constituent Assembly poll has been postponed by the government. It was not clear when the vote would be held for the Constituent Assembly, which will be charged with rewriting Nepal’s constitution and shaping the country’s political future.Prakash Sharan Mahat, of the leading Nepali Congress party, said

The leaders have decided to postpone the voting, but a new date hasn’t been fixed.

Maoist Chairman Prachanda issued a statement saying his party was not in favour of deferring the poll but agreed to it

so as to save the Seven-Party unity and the peace process

Although the commission had finished all the necessary preparations to hold the elections on the given date, the decision has been taken as per the government’s request to suspend the entire election process, the EC stated in a press statement today.The letter to the EC states that the CPN-M has filed a motion to call for a special House session with two major demands - declaration of a republic and fully proportional electoral system - and that it will take time to discuss the issues, thus the government, as per an agreement reached among the seven parties, requests to suspend all the election programmes.The letter also has apprised the EC that a new date will be finalized through a seven-party agreement.

The Constituent Assembly is a major part of the peace agreement that ended the Maoists’ decade-long war and brought them into politics.The stalemate began after the Maoists quit the government last month, later giving the ruling alliance until midnight Thursday to agree to demands including the immediate abolition of the monarchy and procedural changes to the elections. They have threatened to launch widespread street protests if their demands are not met.While mainstream leaders have said they want the monarchy abolished, disagreement over the procedural issues have kept the two sides at an impasse.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has summoned a special session of the Interim Parliament on October 11 as demanded by 87 lawmakers, 84 of them Maoists, to discuss the two major demands of the Maoist party.