135,000 Police on Streets of Nepal Ahead of Thursday’s Vote
NEPAL deployed helicopters yesterday to guard a tense campaign for next week’s constituent assembly elections that could lead to the abolition of the centuries-old monarchy.
About 135,000 police will keep watch on Thursday’s vote which was a key demand of the Maoist former rebels who ended their decade-long civil war in 2006 and want a new constitution that will probably turn the Himalayan nation into a republic.
Fear of violence has overshadowed the country’s first national election in nearly nine years. At least three people have so far died in election-related violence and scores of others have been injured in clashes between rival parties, many involving the Maoists.
Many of the armed rebel groups fighting for greater autonomy in Nepal’s southern plains bordering India are opposing the vote and have vowed to disrupt the polls in the region, where scores of people were killed in violence in the past year.
The government has banned the production and sale of alcohol from tomorrow for the duration of the election.