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Maoists win more than a third of seats in Nepal polls
Former communist rebels won 220 seats in Nepal's 601-member constitution-drafting Constituent Assembly, becoming the country's dominant political party.
- AP
- Published: 00:35 April 26, 2008
- Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokhrel addresses the media in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal’s former Maoist rebels won 220 seats in a 601-member special assembly, making them the single largest party.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Kathmandu: Former communist rebels won 220 seats in Nepal's 601-member constitution-drafting Constituent Assembly, becoming the country's dominant political party according to final results announced on Friday by the election commission.
The commission said the former insurgents, widely known as Maoists, won the largest number of seats in the April 10 assembly election, meant to seal a peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency.
Their nearest rival, the Nepali Congress party, won 110, while the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) received 103.
The Constituent Assembly is charged with rewriting Nepal's constitution while it governs the country.
The Maoists, who are still considered terrorists by the United States, will have less than a majority in the assembly, but are expected to form the backbone of the new government and usher in sweeping changes to the impoverished country.
They have been trying to persuade other parties to join a coalition government, but negotiations with the Nepali Congress and United Marxist-Leninist have so far yielded few results.
Irregularities
The two parties accuse the Maoists of widespread election irregularities, including beating up their supporters and blocking their candidates from campaigning and visiting polling stations.
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly has not yet been set, but political parties have already agreed it will abolish the country's centuries-old monarchy.
Maoist leader Prachanda, who is likely to lead the government, has made it clear the monarchy will end and that there will be no compromise on the issue.
The only party openly supporting King Gyanendra received only four seats in the assembly.
Seats were chosen through a mix of direct elections and a proportional representation system. Of the total 601 seats, 240 were directly elected, 335 were allocated to political parties in proportion to the number of votes they received, and 26 were appointed by the government.
The election commission said the parties have a week to submit the names of members who will fill the seats won through proportional representation. The list must include women and ethnic minority groups, it said.
Two groups campaigning for autonomy in southern Nepal and for greater rights for its ethnic minority placed fourth and fifth. The Madesh People's Rights Forum has 52 seats and the Terai Madesh Democratic Party has 20 seats.
The Maoists have expressed hope that Washington will remove them from its list of terrorist groups after Prachanda met with foreign ambassadors, including US envoy Nancy Powell, on Thursday.
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