Nepal lawmakers agree to draft new constitution in a year

Nepal's newly elected lawmakers today agreed to draft a new constitution within a year to end the country's prolonged political turmoil as the first session of the Constituent Assembly convened here amid tight security.
Dozens of activists of the CPN-Maoist, the breakaway faction of Unified CPN-Maoist, led by hardliner leader Mohan Vaidya staged a sit-in outside Parliament at Nayabaneshwor demanding dissolution of the 601-member Constituent Assembly and convening of an all-party roundtable conference, as the lawmakers entered the building to attend the meeting.
Emerging after the meeting, Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala told reporters, "We will focus our attention on drafting a new constitution within a year as mandated by the people. Our party has accorded top priority to promulgation of the constitution."

"On the occasion of the first meeting of another constituent assembly today... Let us commit to deliver a progressive constitution within a year," former premier Baburam Bhattarai, also a member of the new assembly, said on Twitter.
However, no important business was included in the schedule during the opening of the Constituent Assembly.
The meeting was chaired by veteran leader and five-time Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa.

Thapa, however, adjourned the meeting till January 29.
Nepal has been facing a constitutional crisis since the 10-year civil war ended in 2006. It deepened in 2012 when the first Constituent Assembly elected in 2008 was dissolved without promulgating the constitution.

Thirty political parties won seats in the November 19 polls last year.
The composition of the assembly was delayed after the Maoists alleged fraud in the polls and threatened to boycott the parliament. After weeks of negotiations, they last month agreed to participate in the parliament.
Koirala, dubbed as the most likely candidate for Prime Minister, said that the new government will be led by the NC.
"Nepali Congress will elect its parliamentary party leader through consensus," Koirala told PTI in response to a question as to his party's candidate for Prime Minister.