Nepal's king won't go into exile: palace
Nepal's embattled King Gyanendra on Monday angrily denied speculation he will be heading into exile following a victory by former Maoist rebels in landmark elections.
A statement from the royal palace rejected what it said were "malicious reports appearing in sections of the national and international media in recent days against the royal palace."
"The reports referred to are about his majesty going to India," a palace source told AFP. "He will not be going anywhere. He is not going to leave the country."
Nepal's Maoists are on track to win the largest single bloc of seats in an assembly that will rewrite the country's constitution.
The vote count is expected to end on Tuesday, and the Maoists are due to win at least 220 seats in a 601-member constitutional assembly -- making them the dominant party but short of holding an outright majority.
The ultra-leftists say they intend to abolish Nepal's 240-year-old monarchy as quickly as possible, and have called on Gyanendra to leave the palace "gracefully" rather than be forcibly evicted.
With counting already completed for 240 seats in the 601-member constituent assembly, the Maoists have won 120, while their nearest rival -- the centrist Nepali Congress -- has just 37.
Another 335 seats are to be decided by proportional representation, and with counting expected to be completed Tuesday, the Maoists have around 30 per cent of the vote, which would give them another 100 seats.
Maoist leader Prachanda has said he wants to talk with the king, to persuade him to leave of his own accord, rather than be booted out.
"In history, monarchs have been beheaded and also had to flee. Let that not be repeated in Nepal," the school teacher-turned-revolutionary said late last week.
The Maoists have warned the king that he faces "a trial and strong punishment" if he refuses to accept life as a commoner in one of the world's poorest nations.
Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said Monday the leftists did not care where the king intended to go -- as long as he understood he would lose the last trappings of his royal life.
"It does not matter whether he lives in India or Nepal. We have already decided with the interim constitution what will be done. We are going to declare Nepal a republic, and he will have to accept it," Mahara told AFP.
Gyanendra came to the throne in bizarre and tragic circumstances in 2001, when his popular brother and eight other family members were shot dead by a drunk, drugged, love-sick and suicidal crown prince.
The new monarch and his son Paras -- loathed for his reported playboy lifestyle -- failed to win the hearts and minds of a public that viewed the pair's survival of the palace massacre as suspicious.
In 2005 he seized absolute power to fight the Maoists, but instead fuelled a wave of republican sentiment that led to mainstream parties striking a historic 2006 peace deal with the rebels, ending a decade of civil war.
Gyanendra has since been stripped of all his powers, including his role as head of state and army commander.
He has faced numerous demands to step down quietly, but has so far refused to do so.
Analysts say the king can still count on support from sections of the army and Hindu fundamentalists who see him as the incarnation of a Hindu god.
AFP
