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Nepal rejects criticism of polls as 'groundless'
Nepal has rejected international criticism of this week's local polls, which were marred by violence and low voter turnout.
Nepal has rejected as "groundless" widespread international criticism of this week's local elections, which were marred by violence and low voter turnout, state-run media reported on Saturday.
"The claims are groundless as it is clearly evident that the people exercised their franchise in the most adverse situation," said Tulsi Giri, vice-chairman of the royal council of ministers appointed by King Gyanendra when he seized power a year ago.
Giri's comments were reported in the state-run newspaper Rising Nepal, which is regarded as a government mouthpiece.
Gyanendra, who said he grabbed absolute power to quell an increasingly deadly Maoist revolt, has insisted that the elections held Wednesday would be a step toward restoring democracy in the Himalayan country by April 2007.
But the elections, won by pro-king candidates and boycotted by mainstream opposition parties, have been condemned by a host of nations including the United States, Britain, India and Japan.
Just 21 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote in the polls.
On top of the opposition boycott, Maoist rebels, fighting since 1996 to overthrow the monarchy, had threatened to "take action" against participants and a rebel-called strike shut down much of Nepal in the run-up to the vote.
The United States slammed the vote as a "hollow attempt to legitimise power" by Gyanendra.
Neighbouring India also criticised the elections, saying they lacked credibility and would not help restore democracy in Nepal.
Meanwhile, Giri said the arrest and detention of hundreds of political activists who had called for a vote boycott ahead of the polls was necessary because those detained had disrupted the electoral process.
"The government arrested them after warnings," Giri explained.
The international human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday that around 1,500 people had been arrested for "either organising or participating in political demonstrations."
