Nepal was hit by fresh violence Wednesday, the eve of a landmark vote to decide the impoverished country's political destiny and scrap the monarchy. The polls, the climax of a 2006 peace deal that ended a bloody decade-long revolt by Maoists, are to elect a 601-seat assembly whose first priorities are to abolish the monarchy and rewrite the constitution.
Polls open Thursday at 0700 (0115 GMT) and close at 1700 (1115 GMT), but the results of the historic polls will not be known for at least three weeks, election officials said. Maoist leader Prachanda, who had accused security forces of plotting to undermine the national elections in order to save King Gyanendra from losing his throne, made an appeal for calm. "The need of the hour is to show restraint and have fair and free elections," said Prachanda, whose nom de guerre means "fierce one."
Violence has marred the run-up to the high-stakes election, with police shooting dead seven Maoists involved in clashes with a rival party, plus a man protesting the killing of an election candidate. Recent days have also seen a string of small bomb attacks in the capital and the ethnically-tense south of the country.
The European Union and United Nations called for an end to the violence. Ian Martin, the head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal, said he was "deeply shocked" by the killing of the Maoists by police and the death of an election candidate who was shot late Tuesday.
"All parties should exercise restraint and avoid provocations," Martin said. The EU, who have sent a 120-strong election observation team, repeated calls for a violence-free election. "I call again on all those involved in the election to respect the fundamental right of every Nepali citizen to cast their vote on April 10 in a peaceful atmosphere without fear of intimidation or violence," chief observer Jan Mulder said in a statement.
Nepal's sidelined King Gyanendra, viewed by supporters as the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, the protector, made a rare public statement appealing for calm-but also for public sympathy. "We call upon all adult citizens to exercise their democratic right in a free and fair environment," said Gyanendra, seen as the big loser of the peace deal with the Maoist rebels, whose insurgency left at least 13,000 dead.
With no single party likely to win a majority, the post-vote period could be turbulent, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group has warned. "Nepal has many possible flashpoints, not least that the two armies that fought the war remain intact, politically uncompromising and combat-ready," the think-tank said, referring to the Maoists and the pro-royal national army.
"The post-poll period will likely be difficult and dangerous. The behaviour of powerful losers will shape the immediate aftermath. Some, in particular the Maoists, may even be tempted to reject the entire election," the group said.
Campaigning has also been marred by reports of intimidation by Maoist loyalists, many of whom have failed to adapt to civil life after years spent fighting a bloody guerrilla war.
This has left the UN trying to reassure the Nepalese, for whom democracy has been all too brief amid years of turbulence on the roof of the world, that the ballot will be secret. Nepal's main parties, the centrist Nepali Congress and the centre-left Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), are expected to grab most seats.
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