The seven political parties have created history by signing a 23-point agreement that will make Nepal a ‘Federal Democratic Republic’ in the Interim Constitution itself. They have unlocked more than four months of political stalemate by agreeing to hold the election to the Constituent Assembly (CA) election by mid-April. The accord shows a compromise between the Maoists’ 22-point roster of demands - including immediate abolition of the monarchy and shift to full proportional representation — and the positions of the other parties, particularly of the Nepali Congress. The agreed document epitomises at once the SPA’s desire to bring the peace process to a successful conclusion by holding the Constituent Assembly election and its necessity of staying together. The Maoists have been guaranteed a federal republican set-up and the Congress its implementation with the first CA meeting. The constitutional provision for pre-CA implementation of republicanism is to stay in case there arises a ‘serious’ Royal hurdle to the election.

The new electoral system, too, represents a compromise. As a result, there will be a 601-member Constituent Assembly instead of the 497-member one. The accord deserves broad welcome. But, for the people who have seen both the state and the Maoists violate the agreements and understandings in the past, creating considerable obstacles

to the political transition, the big ‘if’ relates to the level of their sincerity and seriousness about what they have just agreed in writing. Other provisions of the accord include: the Prime Minister will act as head of state in the interim; and the government will form commissions and committees within one month on the disappeared persons, truth

and reconciliation, state restructuring, scientific land reform, and high-level monitoring of the implementation of the past agreements.

The accord recognises the Constituent Assembly election as the national agenda. However, some doubt is being expressed in some quarters about the possibility of holding the polls in the Tarai successfully. The Seven Party Alliance and the government need to understand the sources of the problems in their right perspectives. The incorporation of federalism and republicanism, as well as many other features, for a New Nepal are more than what anybody had dreamt of till relatively recently, whether in the hills or in the Tarai. The generally poor law-and-order situation, all the more so in the Tarai, has been chiefly due to the government’s feebleness — particularly of the constituent that has been in charge of all security-related affairs — and to the tendency to look to outsiders to resolve many of Nepal’s internal problems. The coalition government will have to grow out of this mindset — and very soon. To strengthen the seven party unity, it is also necessary for the partners to promote consensual decision-making that the Interim Constitution ordains. But one thing is clear: It would be extremely hard to justify yet another failure to hold the CA election — by mid-April.