Opposition denounces 'farcical' Nepal polls

Nepalese students shout anti-king slogans as they stand beside a pile of burning tyres at the entrance to Patan University Campus in Kathmandu yesterday. Municipal polls planned by Nepal's King Gyanendra as part of his pledge to restore democracy look set to fail, opposition parties said after figures showed a lack of candidates. PHOTO: AFP

The Election Commission reported just over 3,600 people registered to stand for the 4,146 posts up for grabs in the February 8 polls.

"The number of candidates registering for the polls didn't even match the total seats available for contesting," said Pradeep Nepal, spokesman of the Nepal Communist Party (United Marxist-Leninist).

"It's a complete failure," he told AFP. "The local election looks like a children's game."

King Gyanendra, who seized power nearly a year ago saying the move was needed to quell a Maoist insurgency, announced the local polls as part of his "roadmap for democracy."

He has said the polls would be followed by a general election before April 2007. But opposition parties have denounced the municipal elections as a sham aimed at placating international opposition to the king's takeover.

Registration for the polls was held Thursday during a general strike called by a seven-party opposition alliance to protest a crackdown on dissent by the king last week in which scores of activists and party leaders were rounded up.

Life returned to normal Friday as shops and businesses reopened "but police remain on high alert in the (Kathmandu) valley," said a police headquarters officer, who did not wish to be named.

Election Commission spokesman Tejmuni Bajracharya said the candidate registration day had been successful.

Meanwhile, Nepal's main political parties said yesterday they would hold nationwide protests and hoist black flags at public places next week on the anniversary of King Gyanendra's power seizure, raising fears of more violence.

"We will demonstrate all over the place on Wednesday and hoist black flags in public places throughout the country to observe it as a back day," Krishna Prasad Sitaula, a spokesman for the country's biggest political party, Nepali Congress, told Reuters.