The leader of Nepal’s Maoist party has threatened to boycott
parliament if vote counting in this week’s “rigged” elections is not
immediately halted.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, alleged that there had
been widespread fraud in the polls which amounted to a “conspiracy”.
But the Election Commission has rejected his demand.
Early results showed the Maoists trailing in the vote, seen as vital
in moving towards political stability.
The vote is the second in Nepal since a 10-year Maoist revolt ended in 2006.
The previous assembly failed in its task to draft a new constitution.
It was elected in 2008 after the overthrow of the monarchy but was
bitterly divided.
Third place
Addressing supporters in Kathmandu on Thursday, Prachanda said that
vote-counting should cease to allow for an immediate investigation.
“We have clearly demanded that there should be a probe of all election
processes before the next step,” he said.
“If the election commission does not immediately stop counting we will
completely boycott the entire election process. We will boycott the
Constituent Assembly.”
At a press conference he said that he accepted the “people’s verdict
but cannot accept conspiracy and poll-rigging” because, he said,
ballot boxes were tampered with while being transported from polling
stations to counting centres.
His boycott warning came after latest poll results showed that the
centrist Nepali Congress party was leading in many constituencies
across the country, with the Maoists trailing in third place.
Sporadic violence
Prachanda lost his seat in Kathmandu constituency, but is leading in
another seat in the southern district of Siraha.
But Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Upreti told the BBC Nepali
Service that counting of the votes would continue even if some
politicians boycotted the ballot.
Officials said turnout in Tuesday’s election was 70% and voting was
largely peaceful, despite sporadic violence on the day and a series of
attacks in the run-up to the vote blamed on opponents of the poll.
Foreign observers including former US President Jimmy Carter and the
European Union have described the vote as being well conducted.
“The international observers, the domestic observers and all the major
parties say it was surprisingly good and fair and already proven to be
[a] safe election,” Mr Carter told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.
The Maoists won the largest number of votes in the last election, but
failed to secure an outright majority.
Prachanda became the country’s first post-war prime minister in 2008,
but resigned nine months later following a disagreement with the army.
Full results are not due for several weeks. No clear winner is expected.
The Himalayan nation became a republic in 2008, ending 240 years of monarchy.
Five governments have come and gone – two of them headed by the
Maoists – since the elections in that year. – BBC News
