Nepal poll count to end with Maoists far ahead

NEPAL: The count in Nepal's landmark elections was set to be completed Wednesday with the former rebel Maoists emerging as the biggest party by far in the 601-member assembly, an official said.

"We have just 15 constituencies left to count under proportional representation, and we should have the final count finished by Wednesday," election commission spokesman Laxman Bhattarai told AFP on Tuesday.

The former rebels have already won 120 of the 240 seats elected in a first-past-the-post system. Their nearest rivals, the Nepali Congress, have won 37 seats, elections officials said.

Another 335 seats in the constitution-drafting assembly are up for grabs under a system of proportional representation and the Maoists are also leading in those with around 30 percent of the vote - or about another 100 seats. The results of the April 10 elections will make the Maoists the dominant political force, but they were not expected to secure enough seats for an absolute majority.

Maoist leader Prachanda, wanted by Interpol as the head of a terrorist organisation just two years ago, is the leading favourite to be the next prime minister of a coalition government.

The victory almost certainly means the end of the country's 240-year-old monarchy after the interim government agreed last December that King Gyanendra's Shah dynasty would be abolished in the first meeting of the constituent assembly.

Kathmandu, Tuesday, AFP