With hearts pounding, people across Nepal were glued to their television and radio sets on 28 May, as the political parties engaged in hectic last-minute negotiations over the fate of the Constituent Assembly, whose term was due to expire at midnight. The Assembly was originally elected for two years and its term was extended by a year in May 20l0 – and it had failed to accomplish its task despite the extension. Dissolution would have led to a constitutional vacuum and opened up the possibility of a serious political confrontation. In this situation, extending its term was the obvious, and probably the only, option. But once again the political parties indulged in brinkmanship till the last moment, before stepping back and agreeing to the extension.
The sharp ideological differences and mutual mistrust between the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the traditional parliamentary parties – mainly the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – had rendered the 601-member Constituent Assembly (which also functions as a parliament) almost non-functional. There is one more reason for its failure: the parliamentary parties believed that without the Maoists showing willingness to complete the integration and rehabilitation of their 19,000-plus combatants, currently housed in 28 cantonments, promulgating a constitution alone would not guarantee a functioning democracy. Hence, the non-Maoist parties insisted till the last moment that they would not support the extension of the Assembly's term – which needed to be endorsed by a two-thirds majority – unless the Maoists handed over their arms to the state immediately and showed renewed commitment to the peace process.
Despite its tough stance, the Nepali Congress, the second-largest political party in the Parliament, finally retreated, signing a vague deal for term extension. Although devoid of details, this deal was widely welcomed, but it has only deferred the crisis, not diffused it. In it, the parties pledged to accomplish the major tasks of the peace process and at least to prepare a draft constitution in the following three months. Yet a month has already passed, and there have been no serious inter-party talks on implementation of the deal.
Nonetheless, there is cause to believe that the peace process will move forward. These three months, after all, are probably the last opportunity for the parties – and even more for the Maoists, which have a large presence in the Assembly, to take charge of the constitution-writing. On the night of 28 May, during the negotiations over the term extension, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had, according to sources, assured the parties that he was sincere this time around and would not renege on his promises. 'Have faith in me. There is no need to put everything in writing. I will not let you down,' a Maoist leader who participated in the negotiations (and declined to be named) quoted Dahal as telling the Congress leaders.