Government-backed candidates win in Nepal
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-09 14:10

Candidates backed by Nepal's king swept the country's first election in seven years, officials said Thursday, following balloting marred by rebel attacks, soldiers shooting protesters and a low turnout. The opposition rejected the results.

Voters trickled into schools, Buddhist shrines and Hindu temples to cast ballots, but many people said they were scared away by a rebel threat to kill anyone who took part and a government warning it would shoot anyone caught disrupting the polls.

Chief Election Commissioner Keshav Raj Rajbhandari said turnout was estimated at more than 20 percent, but that the final figure was still being tabulated.

The municipal balloting Wednesday yielded expected results following a boycott by the country's major political parties.

Of the results announced for 15 cities and towns, candidates from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party won 10 mayoralties while candidates from Nepal Sadbhawana, also a supporter of the government, won two. Three independent candidates were declared winners.

The elections were held in 36 municipalities. A coalition of the country's seven main political parties boycotted the vote, calling it a ploy to legitimize King Gyanendra's absolute rule.

"We refuse to accept the results from these so-called elections," said Krishna Sitaula of the Nepali Congress party, adding that those elected would be illegitimate.

"We will not accept them as representatives of the people and will not allow them to take their positions," he said.

The elections Wednesday were for mayors and local officials — relatively powerless posts — and the relative lack of voters was considered a more important indicator of popular sentiment than the actual results being counted Thursday.

In the southwestern town of Dang, the army said "soldiers were compelled to open fire" Wednesday on some 150 protesters trying to interfere with the vote, killing one and injuring another.

Attempts to reach Dang by telephone to verify the army's account were unsuccessful because phones there were not working. It was unclear why.

A protest rally was planned in Katmandu on Thursday to protest the shooting.

The rebels called off a weeklong general strike three days early because it had "been successful in foiling the elections." The strike, which began Sunday, had emptied streets and shuttered businesses and schools.

Vote counting was being done separately in each of the 36 towns and cities that had votes. Another 22 municipalities held no voting because they either lacked candidates or had contenders running unopposed.

Rebels killed a policeman and civilian, bombed 12 government buildings and destroyed the local bank in the eastern town of Dhankuta on Wednesday, police said. Two rebels were also killed, the Defense Ministry said.

Another rebel was killed in a clash with soldiers in the western town of Dhangadi, the army said.