Maoists win more than a third of seats in Nepal polls: official
KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal's former rebel Maoists have won 220 of 601 seats in the constituent assembly elections after final adjustments were made, an election official said.
"The Maoists have won 120 seats under first past the post (system) and 100 under proportional representation," election official Raju Man Singh Malla told reporters.
The surprise win makes the Maoists the largest party by far in the assembly that is set to abolish the monarchy and write a new constitution for the impoverished Himalayan nation.
The Nepali Congress (NC), their nearest rivals and election favourites before the poll, won a total of just 110 seats, the election official said.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN(UML))-- who before the polls were Nepal's second largest party -- took 103 seats
The Maoists have said they plan to lead the government that will be formed from the assembly, but have appealed to their defeated rivals to join them in a coalition government.
"The parties have been asked to give the names of their candidates who will represent under the proportional representation seats within seven days," said Malla.
It will then take three days for the election commission to formally approve the candidates put forward by the parties, the official said.
Election rules dictate that once the lists of candidates has been approved, the first meeting of the constituent assembly has to be held within three weeks.
That means the fate of King Gyanendra could be sealed in just over a month. The Maoists have vowed that the 240-year-old dynasty will be formally abolished as soon as the constitution-drafting assembly sits.
The elections earlier this month were a central strand of the 2006 peace deal struck between the former rebels and mainstream parties that ended a decade of civil war in which 13,000 people died.
