24 April 2008: In a surprising upset, Nepal’s former rebels have won elections to a constitutional congress with promises to replace the 240-year-old ruling dynasty with a republic. The Maoists, considered by the U.S. to be a terrorist organization, won 29.9 percent of the vote for the 601-seat Constituent Assembly, more than twice as many as its nearest rivals, and called on King Gyanendra not to resist the new government.

The Communist Party of Nepal is the largest party with 220 seats putting it in control of the government. The Nepali Congress came in second with 21.2 percent giving it 110 seats and the United Marxist-Leninist party received 20.3 percent of the vote and has 103 seats.

Two regional parties pushing for more autonomy came in fourth and fifth; the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum and the Terai Madhes Loktantrkik Party won 52 and 20 seats respectively. Nearly two dozen other parties took the remainder, including the only party which called for maintaining the monarchy.

Maoist leader Pushpal Kamal Dahal, the Prachanda—or Most Awesome One—had indicated he would like the role of president created for him and has called on King Gyanendra to step down. All the major parties had previously agreed to abolish the monarchy. Following the elections Prachanda repeatedly said the 240-year-old monarchy should end but said the King will be granted respect if he cooperates with the transition to democratic rule. He also said that the contentious issue of integrating the rebels into the army would go ahead peacefully at the same time as the drafting of the new constitution.

Despite a bloody campaign leading up to the vote observers said the vote was fair. The ballot for the 601 seats included a complex system in which voters chose 240 seats directly in a first-past-the-post contest and another 335 seats were awarded through proportional representation. The new cabinet chooses the remaining 26 seats.

Immediately following the results the Maoists suggested they hoped to include the former ruling parties in a type of grand coalition government and announced that they were open to negotiations. However, the two other parties have accused the Maoists of voter intimidation and unfair campaign tactics in the run up to the election, including physical attacks on supporters and preventing candidates from campaigning.

The king of Nepal has historically been considered the reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and Hinduism was the official religion until 2006. King Gyanendra took over the throne following the brutal Nepalese Royal Massacre of 2001 when Crown Prince Dipendra apparently went on a drunken shooting spree killing nine members of the royal family including his father King Birenda (Gyanendra’s brother), his mother the Queen, and brother, before killing himself. He assumed direct control of the country in 2005 amidst the Maoist insurgency; however, that move only united his democratic allies in Parliament with the rebels and the king forced to give up direct rule a year later. Last December Parliament declared Nepal a republic ending the monarch’s centuries-old role in government.

King Gyanendra has opposed giving up the monarchy even though he has known that his days were numbered since the peace deal with the Maoist rebels, which resulted in Parliament approving the creation of an assembly to rewrite the constitution.

The rebels had not been expected to win many votes in the election for the constitutional congress. But the charismatic Prachanda ran an aggressive campaign compared to the other parties. Nepalese voters chose for the Maoists for a wide variety of reasons including campaign promises to do away with the discriminatory caste system and fears that if the Maoists lost they would return to their violent raids, extortion, and kidnapping.

More than 13,000 people died in the civil war from 1995 to 2005. Both sides were accused of atrocities as government forces punished whole regions and the Maoists impressed prisoners into fighting. The Maoists have been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., however special envoy Nancy Powell was among the group of foreign ambassadors who met with Prachanda when results were announced.

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