Maoist threats will not delay polls: Nepal

Keshav Raj Rajbhandari said filing of nominations for thousands of positions on 58 municipal councils in towns and cities across the Himalayan nation would begin on January 26, with voting to be held in all constituencies on February 8.

Only 1.9 million out of Nepal's 26 million people are eligible to vote in the municipal polls.

The anti-monarchy Maoists, who have been fighting for a decade to turn Nepal into a communist state, have threatened to take "special action" against election officials or candidates.

In the past, the rebels have kidnapped, beaten or killed those who disobey them.

In his first comments since the Maoists ended a four-month unilateral ceasefire last week, Rajbhandari said voters would be safe despite the rebels' threat to focus their attacks on the elections.

"We have discussed this (security) with the government. And they have assured us that the security will be managed so that the elections are held safely," Rajbhandari told Reuters in his heavily guarded office in the heart of the capital, Kathmandu.

"If elections can be held during the conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan ... why can't (we hold them) here?" he asked.

King Gyanendra, who fired the government and seized power in February last year promising to crush the insurgency, had promised municipal polls by April this year.