Nepal braces for more protests after Royal candidates sweep polls

NEPAL: Nepal's capital braced Friday for more protests over polls that were swept by pro-royal candidates as analysts said the nation's future looked increasingly uncertain.

Popular anger was mounting over the army killing of a demonstrator during the municipal elections Wednesday that King Gyanendra has insisted will be a step toward restoring democracy by April 2007.

On Thursday, 1,500 people crying "Hang the murderers" massed in a Kathmandu suburb to protest the shooting death of Umesh Chandra Thapa that occurred when protesters tried to thwart the polls which saw a turnout of just 21 percent.

Police also fired tear gas Thursday at students who were protesting Thapa's killing.

"Student bodies will actively protest against the killing by the Royal Nepalese Army soldiers in the days ahead," Indra Karki, secretary of the Nepal Student's Union, told AFP.

Thapa's body was flown to Kathmandu from west Nepal where he was killed but it was still in the army's custody late Thursday.

"It's not known when they will release the body," said Rajenra Pandey, a coordinator of the seven-party opposition alliance which had boycotted the polls, denouncing them as a sham.

Analysts said the elections, slammed by the United States as Gyanendra's "hollow attempt to legitimize power" and by neighbouring India as lacking credibility, had hurt the king's authority.

"His credibility is declining," said Dhruba Adhikary, president of the Nepal Press Institute. The low turnout "shows there is a lack of trust."

The elections were marked by record low turnout of 21 percent, the election commission said, blaming the low participation on "unfavourable conditions."

On top of the opposition party boycott, the Maoists, fighting since 1996 to overthrow the monarchy, had threatened to "take action" against anyone taking part. A rebel-called strike shut down much of Nepal in the run-up to the vote.

More than half of the seats up for grabs remained empty due to a dearth of candidates while in 22 municipalities mayors were elected unopposed.

Analysts say republican sentiment has grown since Gyanendra seized power and that Nepal's economy, already in shambles as a result of the Maoist insurgency, has worsened.

"The election is a state-managed farce. It can only damage the future of the country," said Kapil Shrestha, politics professor at Tribhuvan University and a human rights activist. Gyanendra's "roadmap toward democracy has led to ruin," Shrestha said.

"He has shown his stubbornness and arrogance with a medieval state of mind."

KATHMANDU, Friday AFP.