Nepal's Maoists are on course to win three times more seats than the next largest party in elections to form an assembly to write a new constitution.

The Maoists have won 116 out of the 215 seats declared so far, far more Maoist leader remanded in India ...
Nepal strives to get fuel supply ...
India police battle Maoist rebels ... than many analysts had expected.

The Maoists are now expected to secure an absolute majority.

Meanwhile the army and business leaders have said they are confident that they will be able to do business with the newly elected government.

New start

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says that the Maoists are continuing to surprise even themselves as their vote tally increases.

They are performing well both in the race for directly elected seats to the new assembly as well as well as those seats allocated under a proportional system.

Our correspondent says that there is a sense of something new developing in Nepal and a mood of optimism that the former rebels - who have moved from the battlefield to forming a likely government in less than two years - can give Nepal the new start that it needs.

Sectors previously wary of the former rebels are now putting out feelers towards them.

A senior army figure, Brig Gen Shiva Ram Pradhan, has expressed the willingness of the military to work with the new government.

The chairman of the country's chamber of commerce has praised Maoist leaders for their promise to listen to the private sector when working out economic policy.

Meanwhile the US - which regards the Maoists as terrorists - has congratulated the Nepalese people for holding elections which it says were mostly peaceful.

It said that it looked forward to an assembly that reflected the people's will.

But in what our correspondent says are clear signs that things are not going to change overnight, there have been reports that Maoist youth league members have attacked members of other parties in outlying districts.

The former rebels on Tuesday said that the abolition of the monarchy was now just a "matter of procedure".

"The monarchy is finished. There should be no doubt about that, it's just a matter of procedure," senior Maoist official Prababkher, who uses one name, told the AFP news agency.

(BBC)

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