With Nepal’s  Maoists  widening the lead in the Constituent Assembly Polls,  Nepalis the world over are   hooked on to  TV, FM radio,  local  newspaper or the internet in getting the latest  results.  In fact, Nepalese  people who  usually celebrated their  Bikram Sambat  New Year  on Baishak 1,  greeting one another and expressing joy, happiness and prosperity to each other were  found  more concerned about the electoral results than celebrating.   Even traditional  party go-getter venues such as the Soaltee  Crown Plaza,  Hotel de l’ Annapurna, Malla Hotel and  Radisson were found catering to a lower crowd turnout than earlier years with  fewer expatriate  local Nepali  party  revelers.  Most of all, tourists seemed to be relishing the Nepali New Year more than the locals this year. The Internet Cafes in major Nepali urban locations are mostly open 24 hours,  since the results can be viewed on-line on a continuous basis.   

Traditionally,  the Nepal King’s   New Year’s message  used to be followed  by the  Prime Minister on New Years Day. But this year, it has only  been  King Gyanendra Shah’s message that has been released.  The King has stated, “Along with peace and democracy, may the New Year  2065 B.S inspire us all to uphold our legendary wisdom in ensuring that our national pride, its distinctive values and identity remain uppermost.  The enthusiastic participation of the Nepalese people in the Constituent Assembly elections, through which they have emphatically reiterated their firm resolve not to compromise the nation's existence, independence and integrity under any circumstance, is a source of satisfaction for us.”   The King’s significant  message comes at a time when various ex-Seven party Alliance Members were earlier   indicating  that the first sitting of the Parliament would decide on whether they would  continue with Monarchy or else adopt a  Republican-Federalist line.  

The Carter Center,  ANFRIL, Japanese election monitoring  team,  other observers from Asian and Western countries have all fully endorsed the CA Polls as being  fair,  free  and impartial. President Carter has called it  revolutionary and a  model for other countries to follow.  The U.S., India, and China  were the first three countries to  endorse the CA  Poll results appealing to the Nepali people to  accept the results as their  true democratic voice in transitioning to a  New Nepal.   So far there has been no reaction from Baluwatar, the Nepalese PM’s resident  to NC’s  dismal performance, but it is believed Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is completely dismayed,  but  will continue as Prime Minister for the next few weeks.  

Right now the Maoists lead  54-16 (over UML and NC).  The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) has  managed to win  seven seats so far with the party’s charismatic  chairman Upendra Yadav  winning from both Sunsari-5 and Morang-5.  Upendra Yadav managed to  trounce  Sujata Koirala  23,939 to  8,885 in Sunsari 5, besides  winning  Morang Constituency 5.  This is the second defeat for the Koirala clan  with  Koirala’s  close confidante  Sushil Koirala already defeated  forcing him to resign as Acting President of NC.  

Yesterday,  Maoist Chairman Prachanda had stated  his  party would continue establishing close ties with India and China and work closely with the international community to guarantee the Nepali people, freedom, democracy and economic  prosperity.   So far,  one fifth of the votes of the 601 member assembly  are declared,  of which 575 are elected and 26 nominated, with 75  up for  re-polling.  The current  Maoist landslide win  is expected to continue and even influence voter behavior in other polling centers where voting is rescheduled.

The UK government  has also  welcomed the  continuing CA Poll results.   British Foreign secretary David Miliband   stated,  "This was an important day in the history of Nepal…While I was saddened by the instances of violence and misconduct that occurred, the Election Commission's reports of a strong voter turnout are encouraging, as are the positive assessments of the conduct of the polls made by the EU and other observer missions."  The United Kingdom has nonetheless congratulated Nepal for holding "largely peaceful" elections.  Milband  has further urged the international observers to continue  monitoring the process during the period in which the votes are counted and results announced, while insisting that during this period, and as the Constituent Assembly is formed in the near future, "it is important that the political parties respect the will of the people and use agreed mechanisms to resolve any disputes…the  UK urges them to work together to tackle the critical political and socio-economic issues facing Nepal, so that the people of Nepal can be confident that the future will be peaceful and prosperous. The UK stands ready to assist in building the new Nepal."   Earlier, the US, India, UN and China along with EU observation  committee  chairman,  had hailed the Nepali people’s peaceful polling and democratic voting  exhibited at the CA Poll which was twice postponed due to lack of  political consensus among  Nepal’s former Seven party Alliance. 

(Surya B. Prasai is an independent global strategic communications, media, and international development  resource consultant who writes frequently for this and other global media)

(Note from the Nepal Horizons Editorial Team: The views and opinion expressed in this article are that of the author and not of NHC. We request individuals with interest in Nepal to submit their views on contemporary Nepalese issues to the following e-mail address: editor@nepalhorizons.com.  Pictures of contributors or images that relate to submissions are welcome)