By Xinhua
Kathmandu : Nepal parliament Friday approved a bill to declare the country, once world’s only Hindu kingdom, a federal democratic republic.
Speaker Subhas Chandra Nembang said the bill, which was tabled by the government Monday, was approved by two-thirds majority vote in the interim parliament.
The Himalayan country will be officially declared a republic after the constituent assembly, to be elected mid-April next year, endorses the decision.
The top leaders of Nepal’s ruling Seven-Party Alliance Sunday signed a 23-point agreement, ending months of political stalemate and paving the way for the elections to the constituent assembly.
Under the agreement, the democratic republic will be stipulated in the interim constitution, which will be formally endorsed by a simple majority of the first sitting of the constituent assembly.
It also stated that in case the king tried to instigate a situation to disrupt the constituent assembly elections, the parliament will have the authority to announce a republic immediately.