[JURIST] A Nepali government minister indicated Sunday that the interim constitution, drafted in August [JURIST report], will be signed into law within a few days. The interim draft encompassing 173 articles is designed to replace the current constitution [text] until a new representative body is elected and drafts a permanent constitution. The draft must be approved by each of Nepal's eight major political parties before the House of Representatives will vote to promulgate it, replacing the current body with an interim parliament.

It is unclear whether the interim government will retain elements of the previous monarchial system after King Gyanendra [official profile] took over direct rule of the country in early 2005 and held it for over a year until mass pro-democracy demonstrations [JURIST news archive] forced him to return power to a civilian government. Xinhua has more.