Nepal approves key poll law to calm ethnic groups

KATHMANDU, June 15 (Reuters) Nepal's parliament has approved a law earmarking seats for women and ethnic groups in this year's constituent assembly elections, officials said today, a move aimed at defusing ethnic protests.

The vote is due in November or December for the 497-member assembly, meant to draft a new constitution and decide whether to retain the Himalayan nation's monarchy or establish a republic.

Nepal's interim parliament, which includes Maoist former rebels, passed the law late yesterday, allowing voters to elect 240 members to the assembly directly, speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang said.

Another 240 seats will be filled on the basis of proportional representation, with blocks set aside for different regions and traditionally marginalised groups as well as women, and some seats nominated by the government, he said.

''This is a very important law for the inclusion of marginalised groups like the Madhesis, indigenous nationalities, women and underprivileged areas,'' Nemwang told Reuters.

''The parliament passed the law unanimously. It is a very significant achievement.'' At least 60 people were killed this year in protests by an ethnic Madhesi group demanding more government jobs and seats in parliament for people living in the southern plains.

Officials said 50 per cent of the 240 seats set aside for proportional representation were meant for women.

From the rest, 31.2 per cent will go to the Madhesis, 37.8 per cent to indigenous groups, 13 per cent to lower castes and the rest to other groups.

''This has now opened up a big way for us to begin preparations for the elections,'' Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel said.

The polls, due this month, were delayed after the commission said it needed more time to prepare.

''Now the government should decide the election date soon so that we can make all arrangements for the vote,'' he said.

The elections will be the culmination of a peace process under which the Maoists have laid down their weapons for UN monitoring and joined an interim government.

Their decade-long civil war against the monarchy claimed more than 13,000 lives and hit the aid- and tourism-dependent economy in one of the world's poorest countries.

REUTERS SLD KP1644