By Kunda Dixit
KATHMANDU, Nov 23 1994 (IPS)

A portrait of Lenin gazing sternly down from the wall behind him, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal, Madhav Nepal, does not look like a man whose party has just emerged victorious in elections.

Instead of euphoria, there is uncertainty and nervousness as the party chief hedges questions from reporters on likely candidates for coalition partners.

After four decades in the underground fighting a partyless absolute monarchy, Nepal’s communists have finally been elected to power.

With all the results of the Nov. 15 general elections now in, the communist party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) has emerged as the largest party in parliament with 88 of the 205 seats. But it is still short of the 103 required to form a government on its own.

Although it is now certain that Nepal’s King Birendra will ask the UML to form the next government and turn the country into the world’s first marxist monarchy, the communists are desperately trying to woo coalition partners.

The choice is limited. The second largest party is the Centrist Nepali Congress with 82 seats. The ruling party called the snap polls in July after being crippled by dissension within its ranks.

The third opposition party is the National Democratic Party (known by its Nepali acronym, RPP) which is a group of former royalist rightwing politicians.

Veteran UML leaders line Man Mohan Adhikary, who is tipped to become the next prime minister, had earlier rejected any coalition with groups his party considers class enemies.

But Madhav Nepal sounded more conciliatory Tuesday when he told reporters: “In politics there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.”

The party chief has tried to woo Nepali Congress dissidents, but this effort has had the opposite effect of consolidating a badly mauled ruling party that has retreated to lick its wounds.

The RPP is considered even less attractive as a coalition partner for the left, but hard bargaining for all-important ministerial portfolio in the next few days could change that.

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