DHAKA: Nepal’s Maoists have agreed to join the country’s constituent assembly, ending a weeks-long impasse after they initially rejected the result of last month`s elections.

A senior party leader said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.

‘We have agreed to join the assembly and help draft a constitution’ after other parties agreed to investigate alleged poll-rigging, senior Maoist official Narayan Kaji Shrestha told media.

The Maoists, who were routed at the polls, threw the country into turmoil when they denounced alleged cheating in the November 19 elections, which were seen as key to completing a peace process after a 10-year civil war.

Millions of Nepalis voted at the elections, hoping to install a constituent assembly that would write a constitution and end years of political instability in the impoverished Himalayan nation.

BDST: 1537 HRS, DEC 24, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor