US official satisfied with decision to fix new polls date
In his meeting with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Friday morning, the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Barry R. Lowenkron has expressed satisfaction over the decision by the eight political parties to fix new date for the Constituent Assembly elections.
The meeting of the eight parties, on Thursday, had decided to hold the CA elections by third week of November.
The US official talked about CA polls, Bhutanese refugee issue, and current political situation with the Prime Minister. According to PM's foreign policy advisor Suresh Chalise, the US official also drew the attention of PM towards vacancies in the National Human Rights Commission and the need to strengthen law and order situation ahead of polls.
Likewise, Lowenkron also stressed on the need to maintain unity among political parties to overcome the political transition.
Reports say he expressed concern over the activities of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) in light of last week's incident when YCL cadres pelted stones at a vehicle carrying US ambassador James Moriarty.
Earlier, Lowenkron met with Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan, Speaker Subas Nemwang and Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel on Thursday.
Talking to reporters after his meeting with CEC Pokharel, Lowenkron had said that he believes earlier agreement on deciding the fate of monarchy through Constituent Assembly (CA) should be honoured. At a time when some parties including Maoists have been demanding that the parliament declare republic immediately, the senior Bush administration official had advised to stick with the earlier agreement. nepalnews.com sd Jun 01 07
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