May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

KATHMANDU: Former rebel Maoists warned on Wednesday they will form a new government in Nepal with or without the help of the mainstream political parties they resoundingly defeated in landmark elections.

“We will lead the government as we are the biggest party,” spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said on the sidelines of a Maoist central committee meeting in Kathmandu.

“If the other parties don’t want to join us in a coalition, we will form the government by ourselves,” Mahara said.

The ultra-leftists — who waged a bloody guerilla war for a decade before a peace deal was brokered — took 220 seats in a 601-member body that will chart Nepal’s political future, twice the number of seats won by their nearest rival.

In coming weeks, Nepal’s constituent assembly is set to abolish the world’s last Hindu monarchy in its first meeting, and then go on to write a new constitution for the impoverished Himalayan country sandwiched between China and India.

Established political parties fared dismally in the elections, despite predictions they would win handsomely.

The traditionally dominant Nepali Congress (NC) garnered just 110 seats and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist; CPN UML) 103.

Both parties are currently holding internal meetings amid deep divisions in their ranks about whether they should join the Maoists in government.

Senior leaders from the Nepali Congress, firm favourites before the shock results, have suggested that the current interim government, led by the architect of the peace process, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, should remain.

Mahara said that those who wanted to retain the status quo were working against the mandate given to the Maoists in the April 10 elections.

“The other parties said they were committed to democracy, but by suggesting they will not join the government and that we should not lead it, they are showing they are not committed to democracy,” Mahara said.

Koirala has called for the major parties and Maoists to start discussions on forming the new government, but formal talks are yet to begin, Mahara said.

The larger mainstream parties will have to work with the former rebels but are having difficulty adjusting to their unexpected trouncing, Krishna Jwala Devkota, editor of the Nepalese daily Naya Patrika, said.—AFP