Nepal's government has agreed for the first time that the 240-year-old monarchy should be abolished. After more than two months of arguing, the leaders of the main political parties have finally yielded to pressure from Maoist former rebels.
The rebels demanded that a republican system be decided upon before elections rather than after them.
However the monarchy will not be scrapped until polls, rescheduled for next spring, have taken place.
Austere king
Now that this agreement has been signed by the leaders of the most powerful parties - including the Maoists - it is likely to be passed by the parliament and to take effect after the elections to a constituent assembly.
While a milestone, the move is no surprise. The Maoists walked out of the government three months ago, vowing not to return unless the royal system was scrapped.
They have now secured what they wanted, even though the other parties in the ruling coalition had said, up to now, that the electorate should decide on the issue via the new assembly.
Many, perhaps most, Nepalis will be happy to have a republic.
Since the death of the well-loved King Birendra in the notorious palace massacre of 2001, the monarchy's popularity has sunk under his austere brother, Gyanendra, whose efforts to counter the Maoist insurgency worsened an already very bad human rights situation.
Ethnic violence
However, questions will remain about the strong-arm tactics used by the Maoists to get their way.
They abandoned clauses in last year's peace agreement as their leader threatened to "fight for 40 more years" if their demands were not met.
They also have not stopped using violent tactics from time to time. They will now return to the government.
This year of political squabbling has also seen mounting ethnically based violence - it has continued in southern Nepal in the past few days.
Representatives of the increasing number of ethnic groups now battling for their rights may feel the decision on the monarchy will do little for their own cause.
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