" Govt and NEFIN talks progress "

Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Aug 2 - Talks between the government and Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) inched toward agreement Wednesday with the former agreeing in principle to concede major demands put forth by the agitating ethnic body.
Talking to The Kathmandu Post, Dr Om Gurung, coordinator of NEFIN talks team, said the government had in principle agreed to ensure at least one representative from each ethnic nationality and form a commission for state restructuring. "However, we have asked the government to be clear on the bases such as ethnicities, language and geographical region in the state restructuring process," he added

According to him, the two sides also agreed to form a commission that includes representatives of all groups and to expedite study to make all state mechanisms inclusive in terms of participation of all groups.

The one-and-half hour long negotiation held at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction this evening also discussed the election system in the upcoming CA poll. Dr Gurung said they asked the government to allocate 240 seat for first past the post system proportional in terms of candidates, while making the remaining others fully proportional.

"We have been very flexible in comparison to our earlier stance of proportional election system, considering the existing political situation in the country," said he.

Dr Gurung said they also asked the government to give constitutional guarantee rather than calling what he described "based on the agreement of the eight political parties."

The next round of dialogue between the government and NEFIN is scheduled for August 3.

source:

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