The former Maoist rebels in Nepal are on course to win three times more seats than the next largest party in elections to form a constituent assembly (forfatningsgivende forsamling), BBC online reports Wednesday.
The Maoists have won 116 out of the 215 seats declared so far. That is far more than many analysts had expected and they are now tipped to secure an absolute majority.
The Maoists are performing well both in the race for directly elected seats to the new assembly, and in those seats allocated under a proportional system.
Baburam Bhattarai, second-in-command of the former rebel Maoist movement said there would be no going back on plans to get rid of the monarchy.
– In the first meeting of the constituent assembly we will declare the country a republic, then we will notify the king to leave the palace. As an ordinary citizen, he will have to abide by the law, he said.
Meanwhile, there is a sense of something new developing in Nepal and a mood of optimism that the former rebels – who have moved from the battlefield to forming a likely government in less than two years – can give Nepal the new start that it needs.
Sectors previously wary of the former rebels are now putting out feelers towards them. A senior army figure, Brigadier General Shiva Ram Pradhan, has expressed the willingness of the military to work with the new government.
The chairman of the poor Himalayan countrys chamber of commerce has praised Maoist leaders for their promise to listen to the private sector when working out economic policy.
The US – which regards the Maoists as terrorists – has congratulated the Nepalese people for holding elections which it says were mostly peaceful.
