KATMANDU: Nepal will introduce a long-awaited new constitution within days, a Parliament spokesman said Tuesday, despite opposition from minority groups that has triggered deadly protests across the south of the country.

Lawmakers have been voting since Sunday on the charter, finalized in August in a historic deal between the main parties, under pressure to work together following a devastating earthquake. They are expected to complete the process in the coming days. The main parties have enough support to pass the bill with the necessary two-thirds majority. But plans to carve the country into seven provinces have angered some ethnic minorities, who say it will leave them under-represented in the national Parliament.

The protests have been most intense in the southern plains, where clashes between security forces and protesters have killed 39 people in recent weeks including 11 police officers and an 18-month-old boy.

There has also been criticism of a clause that makes it more difficult for women to pass on Nepali citizenship to their children than it is for men.

“A formal invite has been sent to the president to announce the constitution on Sunday,” the Parliament secretariat spokesman Bharat Gautam told AFP.

“The secretariat is working rigorously to prepare for the ceremony.”