A meeting of the four major political parties -- Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist) and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) -- held at Baluwatar on Sunday decided to keep the same ratio in the electoral system as agreed earlier for the federal assembly.
The four parties have agreed to ensure 33 percent women in both provincial and federal assemblies. The number of women elected in parliament must be at least 33 percent in both federal and provincial assemblies.
"There has been an agreement to ensure 33 percent women's participation in parliament. While retaining secularism, there has been agreement to further explain about religious freedom in the constitution," UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal told after the meeting.
According to leaders present in the four-party meeting, the meeting decided to finalize the draft constitution by Sunday evening by incorporating the provision of secularism as it is now and the provision of pluralism.
On the issue of citizenship, the four parties have agreed to keep the provision to grant citizenship by descent through both mother or father and retain fundamental rights of Nepali citizens as agreed earlier in the Record Determination Committee.
However in case of those receiving naturalized citizenship certificates through marriage with Nepali nationals will have to wait for five years to be eligible for appointment as commissioners or office bearers in various constitutional bodies. They will not be eligible to head such bodies.
According to leaders involved in the inter-party negotiations, the four parties also agreed to retain the provisions of autonomous regional, protected region and special region in the constitution. But they have agreed to remove the name of 22 various protected regions declared already.
The agreement reached during the four-party meeting was incorporated in the draft constitution by a meeting of Drafting Committee held on Sunday evening and forwarded to the CA meeting scheduled for Monday. "The way negotiations are moving ahead among parties has given a hope that new constitution will be promulgated soon," said UCPN(Maoist) Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha.
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