Nepal Maoists say they will head govt as stage victory rally
Nepal's Maoists said on Saturday they would lead the next government as they staged a victory rally with poll results showing them on track to emerge as the country's biggest party.
By Agencies |
KATHMANDU: Nepal's Maoists said on Saturday they would lead the next government as they staged a victory rally with poll results showing them on track to emerge as the country's biggest party.
The April 10 polls were the climax of the 2006 peace deal between the Maoists and mainstream political parties, and the former rebels have confounded analysts and diplomats who forecast they would come in third at best.
"We will lead the next government after the final results of the elections. The people's mandate has clearly given us the responsibility to head the new government," Maoist information minister, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, told AFP.
Mahara's statements came as the Maoist supporters feted the party's strong showing on the outskirts of the ancient capital Kathmandu.
Cheering Maoist supporters wreathed party leader Prachanda whose nom de guerre means the "fierce one" with marigold garlands and smudged red powder on his forehead as musicians beat drums in celebrations.
Until two and a half years ago, Prachanda, a former school teacher turned revolutionary, lived underground and was a terrorist wanted by Interpol.
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The fiercely republican Maoists fought a deadly 10-year insurgency to topple the monarchy and install a communist republic, but now say they are ready to embrace multi-party democracy. With the count still ongoing for 601 seats up for grabs in the new constitutional assembly, the ex-insurgents have won nearly half of the 240 seats allocated by the first-past-the-post system.
They are also on track to win around a third of the 335 seats allocated by proportional representation, election commission spokesman Laxman Bhattarai said.
"We won't win an absolute majority, but we're set to become the biggest party," Mahara said.
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Election officials said they expect by the end of next week to have the complete poll results for the assembly slated to abolish the monarchy and rewrite the constitution. "Ninety per cent of the results of first-past-the post system have already been declared and around 80 percent of the votes for the proportional system have already been counted," Bhattarai said.
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