Maoists extend lead in Nepal poll

2008-04-14 09:19

Kathmandu - Nepal's Maoists have won more seats than all the other parties put together in the country's historic polls as the count passes the one-third mark, the election commission said on Monday.

Of the 601 seats in a new assembly that will rewrite the Himalayan nation's constitution, 203 have been decided or were close to being allocated.

Of these, the Maoists had won 75 seats and were leading in 34 others.

Nepal's largest party, the centrist Nepali Congress, had won 22 seats and was leading in 11 others, the commission said, while the centre-left Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) had won 21 seats and was leading in the count for 10 others.

Other parties had won, or were on track to win, 30 seats.

Local media tallies and projections have shown a similar, stunning lead for the former rebels - who are still classed as a "terrorist" organisation by the US State Department.

Peace deal

The April 10 elections were a central plank of a 2006 peace deal under which the Maoists agreed to end the civil war - which left at least 13 000 people dead - and enter mainstream politics.

The ultra-leftists are pushing for the ouster of unpopular King Gyanendra and the abolition of a 240-year-old monarchy, something that now looks certain following the Maoists' stunning show at the ballot box.

Of the 601 seats in a new Constituent Assembly, 240 are appointed on a first-past-the-post system, and it is those results that are currently being tallied.

Another 335 assembly members will be elected by proportional representation - a counting method the Maoists are also expected to do well in. It could be several weeks before the full results for those seats are known.

The final 26 seats will be appointed by an interim government to be formed after the polls, in which the Maoists will also be well represented.

- AFP