All the king’s men dominate Nepal elections

ROYALIST candidates who dominated local elections called by Nepal’s king duly cleaned up in the violence-plagued poll, according to official partial results.

Results were announced by the Election Commission in nearly half the 36 municipalities where polls were held on Wednesday, with candidates mainly from newly-formed pro-royal political parties winning the day. The elections were boycotted by mainstream opposition parties and disrupted by Maoist rebels, leading to a voter turnout of just over 21% in the troubled Himalayan country, the commission said.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party led by Home Minister Kamal Thapa won mayors’ seats in eight municipalities, and independent candidates - many of whom are believed to back King Gyanendra - won seven, the commission said. Violence marred the elections, called by the king as part of his “roadmap” back to democracy after he seized power a year ago.