By Xinhua
Kathmandu : International community Friday reiterated their support to the success of the peace process after all programs for the Constituent Assembly (CA) slated on Nov. 22 were suspended.
“UNMIN and the United Nations system in Nepal remain firmly committed to supporting the peace process,” Ian Martin, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Nepal and head of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) said on Friday in an email sent to Xinhua.
Martin said, “Although there will be great disappointment among many people in Nepal and on the part of the international community, what is important now is that the political parties maintain their alliance and go forward to agree on how to create the conditions for the Constituent Assembly election, and on how to sustain and deepen the peace process and its implementation.”
Nepali Election Commission (EC) Friday morning decided to suspend all election programs following a request letter to do so from the Nepali Interim Government.
On Thursday evening, Nepal’s seven-party leaders could not reach any consensus on the two key demands raised by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M), declaring republic through Interim Parliament and adopting proportional representation electoral system for the CA poll.
In a press release issued on Friday by British Embassy on behalf of European Union (EU), EU also reiterated its support to make Nepal’s peace process a success.
The press release expressed serious concern about the postponement of CA polls and urged all Nepali parties to save the peace process and follow the past agreements.
In another press release, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu said the United States is disappointed by the decision by the Interim Government of Nepal to suspend the Constituent Assembly election process. The people of Nepal have been denied a timely opportunity to elect representatives to decide the framework for the future Government of Nepal, as the press release reads.
The United States said it is important for all Nepali parties “firmly commit themselves to quickly establish a new election date”, and “urge the Government of Nepal, with the full support of all parties, immediately to address the key elements of the Comprehensive Peace Accord which remain unfulfilled and to implement its agreements with various ethnic groups.”
The Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed on Nov. 21, 2006 between the then Nepali Seven-Party Alliance government and CPN-M, which ended the country’s decade-long insurgency.