Nepal election postponed after political deadlock

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Key polls to determine the future of Nepal were today postponed after political parties and Maoist rebels failed to reach an agreement over a new electoral system and the fate of the monarchy.

The elections, scheduled for late November, would have given voters the chance to elect a body to rewrite the Himalayan state's constitution.

The polls were the centrepiece of a peace deal between political parties and the guerrillas, which was brokered after the Maoists ended a decade-long civil war against the Shah dynasty, a revolt which claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people.

After announcing the postponement, the seven parties and Maoists traded blows. "We have been let down by the Maoists. We are compelled to make changes to the election only because of them," said the peace and reconstruction minister Ram Chandra Poudel.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2184562,00.html