NEPAL, Decemeber 28, 2007: Nepal’s provisional parliament has approved a motion to abolish the monarchy and declare the Himalayan country a republic. More than two-thirds of parliament voted to amend the country’s interim constitution. Friday’s vote ensures the king will be removed immediately after constituent assembly elections scheduled for mid-April next year. The agreement ended months of political deadlock with Nepal’s Maoist movement, who had insisted on an immediate abolition of the monarchy. The government had rejected their demands saying it was against an earlier agreement to let the elected assembly decide the fate of the king.
The provisional parliament voted for Nepal, once the world’s only Hindu kingdom, to become a “federal democratic republican state”. Officials said King Gyanendra would continue to live in the palace without any power until the elections.
The Maoists, who signed a peace deal with the government in 2006 following a 10-year armed campaign, had quit the interim government in a move that delayed the assembly polls set for November and created a deadlock. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the Maoist’s leader, said: “That Nepal will become a federal democratic republic [and] will be written in the constitution is not an ordinary thing. “The implementation of the decision will take place gradually. It is okay.” But Shrish Shumshere Rana, a member of King Gyanendra’s government, formed after he adopted direct rule in 2005, said: “They are not allowing the people to raise voice in favour of the monarchy. It is a farce.”
The new government has already stripped the monarch of almost all powers including his control over the army, replaced king’s picture in some currency notes by that of Mount Everest and removed the king’s portraits from public buildings.