Also, on the opinion poll, less support for the King in the western regions? That spells trouble with a capital T for the King in my opinion. It is the eastern and central parts of the country that have been the birthplaces of most political parties and the hotbeds of political activity whereas the western regions were, up untill a while ago, comparitively more restrained, if you will, in political activism. Perhaps the Maoist movement ,which has been very strong in the west, has resulted in this shift of public opinion. It would be interesting to see the region-by-region breakdown of this data because poverty and illiteracy are much more rampant in the western regions, especially in the mid-west and far-west, and if there are majorities there that want a republic then that blows a big hole into the myth that the King has support among the uneducated, rural masses many of whom, although not all, live in the western regions. Also, at the risk of speculating, I'd also be curious to see a KTM Valley/hill/terai breakdown of this data. Prior to the Maoist uprising, Kathmandu valley and the Terai have been politically more volatile than the hills and if there is increasing support for a republic in the hills,that could be a strong indicator of how far reaching the impact of the Maosits has been in the rural hills - Nepal's cultural heartland. If the King can't win the cultural argument for keeping monarchy in the hillls, he is unlikely to win it in the Terai or KTM valley.