Nepal's ex-Maoists now a registered political party

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

KATHMANDU, July 16 (Reuters) Nepal's former Maoist rebels have formally registered as a political party to contest November elections in the restive Himalayan country, the Election Commission said today.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has been allocated the hammer and sickle symbol to fight the November 22 elections which would elect a constituent assembly to decide the fate of monarchy in Nepal and its political future.

As in many countries, pictorial symbols are allocated to political parties so they are easily identified by illiterate voters. About 46 percent of Nepal's 26.4 million people are illiterate.

"They (the Maoists) have now become just like any other political party," Election Commission spokesman Laxman Bhattarai said.

The rebels, who still feature on a US list of "terrorist" organisations, have confined thousands of their former fighters to camps and locked about 3,500 weapons in metal containers monitored by the United Nations as part of a peace deal with political parties.

The Maoists fought a bloody battle against monarchy from 1996 -- a conflict which killed more than 13,000 people.

Last year they signed a peace deal with an interim government formed after King Gyanendra gave power back to the political parties, a year after he assumed absolute control of the nation.

Reuters SW VV1041

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