Govt says no to ethnicity based PR

The government has said that it cannot agree with the demand for ethnicity-based proportional representation electoral system and ensure one representative for every ethnic group.

The meeting between the government talks team led by Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel and Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFIN), on Wednesday, got stuck on this point.

The two sides later agreed to hold next meeting after 15 days allowing for 'additional homework and preparations.'

Poudel later said the understanding could not be reached on the demand of one group one representative and ethnic population based PR system. "There are problems with that," he said.

Poudel said, "There are over 100 ethnic groups in the country and if all of them are to be represented, the Constituent Assembly will be more of an ethnic assembly and less of a political assembly."

On the other hand, NFIN talks team has accused the government of moving backwards on their earlier promises. nepalnews.com sd Jun 14 07

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