Nepal Maoists take shock lead in early vote count

[freedomnorth]

Source: Reuters

KATHMANDU, April 12 (Reuters) - Nepal's Maoist former rebels took a shock early lead on Saturday in an election aimed at cementing a peace deal that ended a decade-long civil war.

Early tallies from Thursday's vote show the Maoists lead in 65 out of 122 constituencies where counting has begun.

They have also won 23 out of the 33 constituencies where results have been declared, election officials said. The Maoists say they are committed to democracy but are still classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States.

"This is the people's victory," hundreds chanted outside a counting centre in Kathmandu, many with the hammer and sickle painted on their faces or with Maoist flags wrapped around their heads.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL201003.htm

---

Why people always vote TERRA?!

[Joanne98]

1. Anybody the US hates is popular.

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. Well, there's a surprise! The poor majority and the young would, at this stage, at least,

seem to prefer not to keep a feudal system of government. Seems they envy the Chinese their freedoms. Who'd a thunk?

I never thought the voice of the poor, any poor, would be heard in the West. A real culture shock for our perjured MSM to have to deal with. Nobody told them such people existed. Least of all, in the US and the UK....

Looks like, when the Great Depression finally hits us, they may discover they/we not only exist but have a voice, even here.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It's not just "Maoists vs. feudal system", though

Key Nepal parties in constituent assembly polls

* Nepali Congress party -- Nepal's oldest and biggest political party, formed nearly 60 years ago, it has fought for democracy for decades. Has been in power for most of the past 17 years.

In 2006, led mass anti-king protests and forced King Gyanendra to hand power back to political parties. Party headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, 83. Led the peace process with the Maoists ending their decade-long civil war, and has adopted their demand for a republic.

* Communist UML party -- Formed after 1990 by uniting different communist factions in Nepal. A left-of-centre party, wants to turn Nepal into a republic after this week's vote.

* Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) -- Founded in 1994 by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, widely known as Prachanda. The Maoists began a revolt in 1996 to topple the monarchy.

...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL201003.htm

And Prachanda's party isn't one favoured by the Chinese government, so "they envy the Chinese their freedoms" may not really be accurate - if they are Maoists, then I suppose they envy the China of more than 30 years ago:

China leader to hold Nepal talks

A top Chinese official is in Nepal for talks with King Gyanendra and opposition leaders during a three-day visit to the country.
...
China has not criticised the royal takeover of power, but has called for a reconciliation to end Nepal's crisis.
...
Although Nepal's communist rebels have styled them after the late Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, China has refused to recognise them as a Maoist group - it calls them anti-government forces.

Instead, China last year provided a token military assistance of a million dollar to the Royal Nepalese Army which is engaged in an offensive to tackle the Maoist insurgency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4811620.stm

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Thank you, Muriel. I was aware I was not speaking with any degree of

technical detail - a very broad brush.

[otherlander]

10. So China is allied with the monarchy?

Typical. Can't say I trust the Maoists any more, though. Being anti-feudalism, it makes sense that they would get popular support, and therefore want democratic elections, but if they want a government like the one Mao ran in China, I don't know how long it'll stay democratic. If people who were impoverished are now given a better standard of living, well, what will they care about some dissidents and intellectuals being suppressed and murdered?

[MannyGoldstein]

4. The Maosts Got This Thing Started

They started the revolt against an unpopular monarch. Eventually, the Maosts had the country by the throat. Instead of taking over the country, they called for free elections.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. Don't spoil their dreams, Manny. This is very hard for them, you know.

[David__77]

7. Maoist leader Prachanda will likely assume a new presidency.

The people of Nepal have strongly endorsed the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and want them to lead the country. I'm not surprised at this result at all. They're the prime modernizing progressive force in the country.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Wait! Not that kind of democracy!

I am no big fan of marxist-leninist-maoist ideologies, but it brings a smile to my face when the people just go and do exactly what their leaders did not want them to do. What are we going to do now, not recognize the democratically elected government of Nepal?

[New Dawn]

11. Well, it doesn't really matter much what Washington decides to do

India has already said they'll work with whoever wins the election. And that is pretty much China's position as well. Those are the only two countries that really matter, because they geographically surround Nepal.

Nepal seems like a pretty interesting place, the population seems to be very left-wing overall (much more so than even Venezuela). Even the Nepali Congress (the largest non-communist party) claims to be social-democrats.

[ohio2007]

9. Curfew after deadly Nepal mosque bombing: official

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepalese authorities clamped an indefinite curfew on a southern town after a bomb attack on a mosque killed two people and sparked violent reprisals, police said Saturday.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=104878

[Nevernose]

12. You really have to admire a Maoist in 2008

The dedication must be phenomenal. Even the Chinese aren't Maoists anymore!

I wonder if the reason that China is paying the Nepalese government money (albeit an almost insignificant amount) to help fight the Maoist gorillas is because they make the Chinese look bad, or because they don't want real Maoists having a base of operations to return to the motherland with?

[New Dawn]

13. Actually, the CCP still considers itself to be Maoist

The Chinese Communist Party's official position on Mao is that he was "7 parts good, 3 parts bad." "Mao Zedong Thought" is still an official component of the CCP's ideology (along with Marxism-Leninism and a long list of other things). His picture is also still on some of the yaun banknotes.

There are also smaller Maoist organizations in China (outside of the CCP) that openly support the Nepalese Maoists. However, they are not part of the Chinese government.

The Chinese government sold some weapons to the king during the civil war and vocally opposed the Maoists. However, considering that the king has been defeated, I'm sure that China will do business with Nepal.

I guess it all just goes to show how wrong Francis Fukuyama really was.

[Nevernose]

14. More a vestige of totalitarianism than of communism, though

At least that's been my impression. China these days seems very totalitarian, not very communist.

We still speak kindly of the founding fathers here, though Fukuyama's ilk are running the show. Our leaders give them lip service, and then proceed whatever it will take to keep themselves in power (see the recent homebuilders bailout, for instance), and call it "the greater good."

Ass far as China's dealings with Nepal go, I'm sure you're right. China took Reagan's vision of realpolitik and ran with it. Pragmatism without conscience. Nepal? Not much money there, so not much money invested (idealogically). Sudan? A lot of business dealings, so they'll prop that government up until ... not the very end, but at least until it's no longer profitable.

A side note: Ever notice that the more we import from China, the smaller our middle class grows? And that the less in ratio that China imports from the US, the larger their middle class grows? Maybe in 500 years someone in the economics field will have convinced someone else of what is obvious to the rest of the human race.

[Zynx]

16. In practice, Maoism is completely dead. Mao freaked out over far smaller changes

in China toward capitalism than we've seen in the past 15 years. If he were alive today, heads would roll.

The reason the Chinese government never completely threw Mao under the bus was due to the fact that if they did, all of their legitimacy would be toast.

When you talk to those from China, and I have gone to school with dozens of them, Maoism is a joke. Nobody believes in it anymore.

[Zynx]

15. Maoism should have died with him in 1976. Every Chinese leader of note realized what BS it was.

The fact that there are western "intellectuals" who still have some fascination with it astounds me.

[Nevernose]

17. I might have an intellectual fascination with it

That's not "intellectual" as in "smart," that's intellectual as in "curious" and "hypothetical."

It's still kinda dumb to be a Maoist when even the Maoists aren't Maoists anymore.

And while Maoism in China is dead, what have the Chinese done since that is better? They're still a totalitarian state. They can call it Threestoogism for all I care, the end result is the same: oppression.

For the record, I'm opposed to a bit of healthy of healthy socialism; it's totalitarianism I oppose.