WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US government Thursday warned Nepal's restive Maoists against trying to "trash" upcoming elections that are crucial to the poor Himalayan country's future.
To decide sensitive questions of constitutional change and the role of the monarchy in Nepal, it is "essential" to consult the voters, top State Department official Richard Boucher said.
"We're glad to see the elections scheduled for November and we think it's very, very important that everybody respect that and that everybody go through that polling process.
"Trying to trash this election is trying to trash the whole process," the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia said at Washington's Johns Hopkins University.
"Declaring yourselves an opponent to the democratic voting process, we can't abide that. So I hope they won't go that far," Boucher said.
The poll scheduled for November 22 is designed to elect a body that will rewrite Nepal's constitution and decide if the monarchy should stay or go.
The Maoists stormed out of Nepal's coalition government on Tuesday after failing to push through the immediate abolition of the monarchy, which according to a peace deal last year should be decided after a democratic vote.
Then on Wednesday, the Maoists began a door-to-door campaign in their efforts to abolish the 238-year-old monarchy before any polls can take place, and have threatened a series of strikes and street protests.
Analysts say that since declaring an end to their decade-long insurgency and signing the peace deal in November, the Maoists' continuing strong-arm tactics across the country have caused their popular support to plummet.
The European Union cautioned Thursday that it would be a "betrayal" of the Nepalese people if the elections cannot go ahead on time, while Japan, a major donor to Nepal, also voiced concern over the Maoists' behavior.
Boucher said the US government would continue to treat the Maoists as extremist outcasts until the movement becomes a normal political party.
"They need to give up the gun. They need to give up extortion. They need to give up the militant youth groups that have sort of extended their power and tried to intimidate people in the countryside," he said.
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