Nepal Maoist chief alleges elections rigged

Nepal's Maoist leader, who swapped arms for politics when his "people's war" ended in 2006, threw the country's elections into doubt Thursday by claiming the poll was rigged following big losses for his party. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, demanded a halt to vote-counting after losing his own seat in Tuesday's elections aimed at installing a constituent assembly and ending years of political instability. "We urge the election commission to stop the counting," Prachanda told a press conference. "We accept (the) people's verdict but cannot accept conspiracy and poll-rigging." He said ballot boxes were tampered with while being transported from polling stations to counting centres. Prachanda, the country's first post-war prime minister, finished a distant third in his Kathmandu constituency, well behind the winning Nepali Congress party candidate, Rajan K.C., according to the election commission. Early results showed the Maoist party trailing badly in the elections, seen as vital to completing a peace process which has drifted in recent years because of a prolonged political crisis. Tentative results showed them leading in just eight percent of the 176 constituencies where vote-counting has been completed or is well under way. Even if the party were to sweep the remaining 64 directly-elected seats, it would have won less than one third of the vote. More than a hundred protesters gathered outside the Maoist headquarters in Kathmandu, shouting slogans in support of the party's stance. "We are ready to fight again," they yelled. Millions of Nepalis voted on Tuesday, registering a higher turnout than during the first post-war elections in 2008 for an assembly, which also acts as a parliament and is tasked with writing a constitution. The Maoists swept those elections five years ago, promising social change, economic growth and lasting peace in a country which lost an estimated 16,000 lives in the conflict. But they have since faced sharp criticism from many core supporters who accuse them of abandoning their ideals and adopting a life of luxury while in power. Political infighting since 2008 has seen a string of coalition governments split and fail to write a draft constitution, forcing the collapse of the assembly in May 2012. Prachanda headed the first post-war government but his stint in power ended after nine months following a clash with the army chief. More recently, he has faced criticism over alleged corruption and expensive tastes. Despite Prachanda's demands, Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety said counting would continue and election observers said the poll had been conducted fairly. "An election is a way to understand the people's verdict, I request all political parties to respect people's opinion," Uprety told reporters. Eva Joly, head of the EU's election observer mission in Nepal, said the polls were held in an "independent and impartial manner". "This is a genuine election and if some political parties are not satisfied with the outcome, they must come with evidence... there's no place for violence," Joly said. Prachanda's comments cast doubt on the future of the peace process, following recent violence by a splinter faction of the Maoist party that called for a boycott of the polls. Anti-poll protesters torched vehicles, planted crude bombs and hurled explosives at traffic, leading to over 370 arrests and one death. Victorious Nepali Congress candidate Rajan K.C. urged the Maoists to "respect the verdict of the people". "In the last constituent assembly election I was defeated by Prachanda and I accepted the people's verdict. Now it's Prachanda's turn to accept the loss," he told reporters. Preliminary results are likely to emerge by Friday, with full results expected by the end of the month. Former US president Jimmy Carter, who is in Kathmandu to monitor the polls, told AFP on Wednesday the elections were "a momentous step forward" in the once war-racked country. More than 100 parties, including three major ones -- the Unified Marxist-Leninist, the Nepali Congress and the Maoists -- fielded candidates for the assembly. In addition to the 240 directly-elected seats, an additional 335 seats will be awarded via a proportional representation system and a further 26 will be chosen by a council of ministers.