Senior leaders of the seven parties and the Maoist couldn’t reach consensus over the issues of interim parliament and constituent assembly elections until late night Monday.

Interim Parliament

Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the CPN-UML demanded his party should get at least one more berth than the Maoists in the interim parliament.

Nepali Congress has 75 parliamentarians (including Upper House), UML 73 and NC (D) 42, besides other smaller parties in the parliament. Earlier, the leaders had agreed to give 73 berths to the Maoists in the upcoming interim parliament.

“But UML insisted it should get 74 berths and if that does not happen the Maoists should get only 72 berths,” said Deputy Commander of the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) Ananta.

Today’s meeting also decided to add 10 more seats for NC, UML and the Maoists, and 8 seats for the NC (D), putting the total number of seats for them at 85, 83, 83 and 52 respectively.

However, NC (D) President Sher Bahadur Deuba disagreed and demanded an equal number of extra seats for his party. A leader at today’ meeting preferring anonymity said Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala told the meeting that the NC was ready to share equal number of seats with UML and Maoists.

Constituent assembly elections

Nepali Congress, NC (D) and the Maoists agreed to go for a mixed system for the constituent assembly elections (proportional and geographical), while the UML insisted on the proportional system. According to a leader at today’s meeting UML General Secretary Nepal said his party would not be obstacle if all other parties went for a mixed election system.

Monarchy

Although Nepali Congress, NC (D) and the Maoists have already agreed to decide the fate of the monarchy through the first meeting of the constituent assembly elections, UML General Secretary Nepal pressed for referendum. The UML Standing Committee meeting held on Monday morning, however had decided that the party would not play spoilsport should all other parties agree that the fate of the monarchy be decided through constituent assembly.

Arms management and Maoist combatants

The seven parties and the Maoists expressed differences over the language to be used in the final draft while mentioning the issue of the arms management and the Maoist combatants. The seven parties said the draft should mention that the Maoist arms would be locked in storages within the designated cantonments. The UN will monitor the locks through close circuit camera, besides setting up sensor devices, which will sound the siren (or ring an alarm). Prachanda said the Maoists agree with the monitoring system but insisted the draft should not mention it in such a manner.

Similarly, the seven parties said the Maoist activities like extortion, display of arms in public and intimidation should be mentioned in the draft as punishable crimes. But Prachanda objected. The leaders couldn’t reach an agreement over the language to be used regarding arms management and the Maoist combatants.

Judges not to be reappointed

The seven parties and the Maoists agreed that the judges wouldn’t be reappointed according to the interim constitution. However, they said the judges should take oath of the office as per the new constitution.