Nepal's Maoists form alliance with main communist party

Nepal's Maoist party announced today an alliance with the largest communist bloc, ahead of key elections seen as the final step in the Himalayan nation's post-war transition to a federal democracy.
The two parties, with a third smaller partner, have agreed a tie up for general elections later this year, and plan to unify as a single communist party following the polls.
"We had said before, after the signing of the peace deal, that Nepal should have a single communist party. We are now finishing that incomplete process," Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal said at a press conference announcing the deal.

The Maoists have dominated Nepal's politics for more than 20 years after waging a decade-long insurgency against government forces that claimed more than 16,000 lives.
The civil war ended in a peace deal in 2006 that saw rebel leader Dahal become Nepal's first post-war prime minister.
The 240-year-old Hindu monarchy was abolished two years later beginning the Himalayan nation's transformation to a secular republic.
Three main parties -- the Maoists, the Communist Party Nepal-Union Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), and the Nepali Congress (NC) -- have since monopolised the political sphere, forming varying brittle coalitions with one another.
General elections set for next month will conclude the drawn-out peace process, allowing for the implementation of a new constitution that was agreed in 2015.