Officials of the Nepali government and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (formerly known as guerilla) said Friday the interim constitution would be finalized by Saturday.

The Nepali government and CPN held an extensive discussion on the interim constitution at PM Koirala's residence Baluwatar in Kathmandu for the third consecutive day, but failed to reach consensus, according to a report of the local media group Kantipur 's website.

Home Minister and chief convener of the government talks team Krishna Prasad Sitaula and CPN leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that both sides were trying their best to finalize the interim constitution and that it would be done by Saturday.

Both the leaders said that agreement has been reached on most of the main issues and the text of the interim constitution is to be smoothed out.

The Interim Constitution Drafting Committee (ICDC) submitted an incomplete draft of the interim statute to the government and CPN talks teams on Aug. 25.

The 76-page interim constitution draft left some contentious issues including the position of the king in the interim constitution, structure and procedure of the Constituent Assembly elections, etc. for the ruling seven-party alliance and CPN leadership to decide.

The Interim Constitution is said to have 172 Articles, 26 Sections and one Annex.

The Nepali government and CPN agreed in their Nov. 8 peace agreement that the interim constitution will be issued on Nov. 26. But the deadline has been missed.

Source: Xinhua