A/HRC/7/68 page 6 in 1999, 73 appointed by the CPN(M) and 48 appointed by the political parties which had signed the peace accord. Following extensive negotiations between the parties, a 22-member interim Government was formed on 1 April, including 5 CPN(M) ministers. 16. Following a subsequent agreement on monitoring of the management of arms and armies, more than 31,000 Maoist personnel were placed in cantonment sites, and their weapons stored and registered. UNMIN undertook a verification process using two criteria agreed by the parties: those who had joined the Maoist army before 25 May 2006; and those who were born before 25 May 1988. Upon completion in December, UNMIN determined the total verified personnel as 19,602. A total of 2,973 individuals were verified as born after 25 May 1988, therefore below 18 years of age when the ceasefire agreement was signed. Their presence was in violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and child rights provisions. Although reintegration programmes have been developed by child protection agencies, official discharge of the children was not forthcoming. Many other children reportedly left the camps outside a formal release process, making it more difficult for them to benefit from reintegration programmes. Some children who had left were forced to return to cantonment sites. 17. Constituent Assembly elections, initially scheduled for June 2007, were postponed until November, after the Election Commission’s announcement in April that it could not technically organize the elections in time owing to political delays. The political climate deteriorated as CPN(M) and the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) accused each other of not implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In August, CPN(M) announced 22 demands, including the declaration of a republic. Accusing the Government of unwillingness to meet these demands, the CPN(M) ministers resigned in September, and elections were again postponed. 18. CPN(M) ministers subsequently rejoined the Government after a major breakthrough in negotiations on 23 December, when the parties reached a 23-point agreement recognizing Nepal as a federal democratic republic, to be adopted at the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly, and including a road map to hold Constituent Assembly elections by 12 April 2008. While maintaining a mixed electoral system, it expands the number of seats to 601, 335 of which by election through proportional representation. 19. While the electoral impasse between the parties was eventually unblocked, questions of representation and discrimination in relation to Madheshi, indigenous (Janajati) and other excluded groups remained unresolved, resulting in ongoing, sometimes violent unrest, especially in the Terai. Several Madheshi parliamentarians, including a minister, resigned in December, amidst continuing accusations that the parties were not taking Madheshi grievances seriously. New Madheshi alliances were formed, including a new Madheshi political party (see paragraphs 47-55 below). 20. Following widespread and sometimes violent demonstrations to demand respect for Madheshi rights early in 2007 (see A/HRC/4/97), protests, and the practice of bandhs - transportation and commercial stoppages often forcibly imposed through threats or violence - continued especially in the Terai, and repeatedly curtailed freedom of movement, access to education and health services, development programmes and activities of non-governmental organizations, as well as political activities.