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Nepal Maoist Leader Prachanda Claims Elections Were Rigged
BBC NEWS, ASIA
November 21, 2013: The leader of Nepal's Maoist party has alleged the country's elections were rigged after state television reported he had lost his seat in parliament. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, called for vote counting to be stopped, alleging a "conspiracy".
Early results show the former rebels losing badly and their leader finished third in his Kathmandu constituency, according to election officials.
The vote is the second in Nepal since a 10-year Maoist revolt ended in 2006. The previous assembly failed in its task to draft a new constitution. It was elected in 2008 after the overthrow of the monarchy but was bitterly divided.
'Conspiracy'
The Maoists won the largest number of votes in the last election, but failed to secure an outright majority. Prachanda's constituency was thought to be a stronghold of the former rebels, but his party finished well behind the winning Nepali Congress in this week's poll, elections officials said. Prachanda said he had received reports of massive irregularities during the voting process, with ballot boxes being tampered with. "We urge the election commission to stop the counting," AFP news agency quoted him as saying. "We accept [the] people's verdict but cannot accept conspiracy and poll-rigging."
The former guerrilla leader became the country's first post-war prime minister in 2008, but resigned nine months later following a disagreement with the army.
Chief election commissioner Neel Kantha Upreti said there were no plans to stop the vote counting, according to the Associated Press.
