THE HINDU writes a very big News about Nepal's election
Nepal's first vote in seven years marred by rebel assault, Opposition boycott
Kathmandu, Feb. 8 (AP): The Royal Government's move to hold Nepal's first elections in seven years was marred on Wednesday by rebels who killed two people and took 10 hostage in an eastern town and a boycott of the local polling by most political parties.
Relatively few voters turned up at the polls for the municipal elections following vows by both the country's Maoist rebels and political dissidents to disrupt polling and threats by the government to shoot anyone caught doing so.
The Government of King Gyanendra billed the local elections as a step back toward democracy, hoping to ease a power struggle among the monarchy, rebels and the country's main political parties. Instead, they prompted near-daily attacks from rebels and a boycott by most politicians who called the polls a ploy to legitimize Gyanendra's seizure of absolute power just over a year ago.
Hours before the polls opened, rebels launched a major assault on the eastern town of Dhankuta, where the guerrillas bombed at least 12 government buildings and destroyed the local bank, police officials said.
They killed one policeman and one civilian, and took seven government officials and three policemen hostage during the assault, a police official said on condition of anonymity.
Polls nationwide opened at 8:15 a.m. (0215 GMT), and there were short lines at stations around Katmandu and in the central city of Pokhara, which lies on the edge of the Maoists' heartland.
At the Royal Nepal Academy in a densely populated area of central Katmandu, a handful of voters lined up outside a canvas tent, waiting to cast ballots as some 30 soldiers and police stood guard.
``I'm not afraid because I'm voting for peace in the country,'' said Arun Basnet, 51, one of the first to slip his paper ballot into the rusty, green ballot box.
After voting, Basnet, a supporter of the pro-king National Democratic Party, shepherded others through the process, explaining to them the different symbols on the ballot sheet _ such as a flowerpot, sun, bus and telephone.
``We have to vote for the flower pot, we have to win for the flower pot,'' he explained, pointing to the symbol of the royalist party.
Opposition leaders, Western diplomats and even some officials have said they expected low turnout because of rebel threats, the boycott and government intimidation.
Of the nearly 1,450 voters registered to cast ballots at the academy, about 40 had shown up two hours into the voting, officials there said.
In Katmandu's Durbar Square, where about two dozen voters lined up outside tents, Deepak Shrestha said supporters of the king had come around the night before encouraging people to vote.
``They told us it was our duty to exercise our electoral rights,'' said the 43-year-old laborer, who waved off further questions.
The insurgents threatened to kill anyone who takes part in the vote _ two candidates have already been slain _ prompting the government to take out life insurance policies worth up to Nepal rupees 700,000 (US$10,300, euro8,650) for the more than 2,000 candidates.
The boycotting parties said they planned to peacefully disrupt the vote, the first since 1999.
Gyanendra's government has responded by rounding up hundreds of politicians, activists and journalists, and police arrested about 30 politicians and activists who were trying to organize protests in an eastern border town on Wednesday.
Votes were taking place in only 36 towns and cities because the country's remaining 22 municipalities lacked candidates or had contenders running unopposed.
Home Minister Kamal Thapa, told reporters on Tuesday that soldiers and police have ``been instructed to use ultimate force if there are any attempts to disrupt the polls or harm the voters.''
The king seized power Feb. 1, 2005, claiming the move was necessary to defeat the Maoists, whose decade-long fight for a communist state has cost 12,000 lives.
But fighting has persisted in this Himalayan land of 27 million people, and the economy has only worsened _ per capita income is less than US$25 a month
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