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Nepal's Maoists were marching to victory in the Himalayan nation's first election in nine years, surprising many who feared a poor showing by the former rebels would have jeopardised a peace deal to end a civil war.
The Maoists, who ended an insurgency two years ago, had won 42 of the 76 seats declared so far and were also leading by a similar proportion in other constituencies where counting was continuing, election officials said.
Two other parties, the communist UML and the Nepali Congress, earlier thought to be favourites have so far won only 13 and 11 seats respectively. Nepal votes for a 601-member assembly.
