Nepal’s Maoist leader said on Friday he would meet the country’s embattled king to try to persuade him to step down before the monarchy is abolished following a Maoist election victory.
The ultra-leftists are ahead in last week’s crucial polls for a body that will abolish the monarchy and rewrite the Constitution.
“I will take the initiative to talk to the king in person,” Maoist leader Prachanda said in an interview on state-run television. “He should understand and respect the people’s verdict and what the people want and leave the palace voluntarily.”
PHOTO: EPA
The polls are the climax of the 2006 peace deal between the Maoists and mainstream political parties, and the former rebels have confounded analysts and diplomats who predicted they would come third at best.
They have said their first act will be to sack King Gyanendra and abolish his 240-year-old monarchy.
“The king has the historic opportunity to show his love for the country and his respect of the verdict of the people by leaving the palace himself,” said the leader, whose nom-de-guerre means “the fierce one.”
“Nepalese people will forgive him no matter what he has done in the past,” the Maoist leader said in the 30-minute interview, his first since polls on April 10.
“In history, monarchs have been beheaded and also had to flee. Let that not be repeated in Nepal,” said the former school teacher.
Gyanendra ascended the throne in 2001 when his brother and predecessor, King Birendra, was shot dead along with eight other family members by a drunk and lovelorn crown prince, who in turn killed himself.
In 2005 he seized absolute power to fight the Maoists, but instead fueled a wave of republican sentiment that led to a historic 2006 peace deal culminating in last week’s polls.
Until two-and-a-half years ago, Prachanda lived underground and was a terrorist wanted by Interpol.
The party Prachanda leads has now become Nepal’s biggest, and is set to lead the country’s next government.
With the count from the polls still in progress and 601 seats in a constitutional assembly up for grabs, the former rebels have won nearly half of the 240 seats allocated by the first-past-the-post system.
They are also on track to win around a third of the 335 seats allocated by proportional representation, election official Dilliram Bastola said.
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