Ballot Box Gives What Revolution Cannot

For many many years Maoist guerrillas fought to control the country of Nepal.  Many deaths and many peace attempts and nothing was accomplished but more and more blood shed.  Recently a peace accord was signed and basically all parties honored it with minor outbreaks of violence here and there.

Then the election process began and the results were not what most of the world was looking for.

Nepal’s Maoists have accomplished at the ballot box what they did not achieve as guerrillas on the battlefield — winning a chance to transform their country.

Officials said Thursday that the former rebels have won the most seats in the Himalayan nation’s new governing assembly.

The Maoists, who are still considered terrorists by the United States, took more than double the number of their nearest rival in an April 10 election meant to seal a peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency.

While the Maoists will not have an absolute majority in the 601-seat Constituent Assembly, they are expected to form the backbone of Nepal’s new government and usher in sweeping changes to the impoverished country.

Now we will see if they will try and push their Maoist ideology or if it was just they wanted the power to control the country.  Once again, extremist gain more power through the ballot box than with the gun.