KATMANDU, Nepal — Nepal’s prime minister called new elections for November after the term of the Constituent Assembly expired at midnight Sunday without political leaders completing the task of writing a new constitution.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said the Constituent Assembly had failed to achieve its goal.
“We have no other option but to go back to the people and elect a new assembly to write the constitution,” Bhattarai said in his announcement broadcast live over television.
Bhattarai said he would be leading a caretaker government until the Nov. 22 elections.
The Constituent Assembly was elected to a two-year term in 2008 to draft a new constitution but has been unable to finish the task. Its tenure has been extended four times, but the Supreme Court rejected any further extensions.
Leaders of the main political parties met Sunday but failed to reach any agreement.
The four main parties were attempting to resolve differences over whether the states to be created by the constitution should be determined on the basis of ethnicity.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 05/28/2012