[JURIST] The Communist Party of Nepal - Maoists (CPN-M) [party website] announced Tuesday that it is vacating the interim government and boycotting future elections until its demands for parliament to immediately declare the country a federal democratic republic were met. Senior members of the Maoist party, who say that they have secured over one million signatures on a petition calling for the creation of a republic government, said Tuesday that they would engage in peaceful rallies leading up to a nationwide strike in early October. AP has more.

This is the latest in a series of political upheavals in Nepal [JURIST news archive]. The CPN-M has been agitating for the declaration of a republic [JURIST report] and abolishment of the monarchy for months, but senior leaders in the six other major parties involved in the interim parliament, operating under the powers of the interim constitution [JURIST report], assert that the parliament only has the power to set up elections for a Constituent Assembly [eKantipur report], which will then decide the form of Nepal's new government.