Nepal`s Maoist Party Likely to Gain Majority

Nepal had general elections on Thursday to form a constitutional parliament, ending a 239-year-old monarchy.

The AFP reported that the April 10 general elections to elect 601 lawmakers including constitutional and proportional representatives were held at some 21,000 polling stations across Nepal, with formal results coming out in three weeks time.

If the constitutional parliament is formed according to election results, the country plans to abolish the royal regime and draw up a democratic constitution.

For the last 10 years, some 13,000 lost their lives amid bloody clashes between Maoists, who want to put an end to the king’s rule, and the royal regime.

The AFP expected that two major parties, the Nepal Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), a Maoist party, are likely to hold a large number of seats. The French news agency added that it is possible a clash between the two parties regarding the election results can make the country’s political system even more unstable, leading to violence.

A U.N. official in the country said, “Reportedly, some regions suffered violence, but overall the elections were held smoothly.”

Officials from the Nepalese Police and the National Election Observation Committee said that only six of the 21,000 polling stations saw their polling disrupted. The country witnessed at least eight people murdered as a CPN candidate was killed on Tuesday and some demonstrators were shot by police on Wednesday.

the European Union dispatched an election observation team, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter led an election surveillance team to Kathmandu, the capital. In a statement on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “All political parties in Nepal should cooperate so that the elections are held peacefully.”

myzodan@donga.com