KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's political parties voted on Wednesday to abolish the Himalayan kingdom's 239-year-old Hindu monarchy, a key demand of Maoists after they ended a decade-long war against the government.
Delegates at a special assembly voted 560 to four in favor of abolishing the monarchy. Hours before, suspected royalists threw three small, homemade bombs in Nepal's capital, wounding one person.
The government has told unpopular King Gyanendra to vacate his pink pagoda-roofed palace in the capital Kathmandu within a fortnight, or be forced out. He has made few comments on his future plans, except to say he wanted to remain in Nepal.
On hearing the result of the vote, thousands of people danced in the streets of Kathmandu, many waving different party flags and chanting "Welcome to a republic". The government declared the next two days a public holiday.
"Today is the day when my dreams have been realized and similarly the dreams of the nation have perhaps also been realized," Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said in an address to the assembly.
Activists of the royalist militant group Ranabir Sena threw pamphlets at the site of one of Wednesday's blasts, demanding that Nepal remain a Hindu kingdom, police said.
Two bombs exploded only meters away from the heavily guarded venue for the assembly while another went off in a city park.
Nepal abolishes centuries-old Hindu monarchy
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's political parties voted on Wednesday to abolish the Himalayan kingdom's 239-year-old Hindu monarchy, a key demand of Maoists after they ended a decade-long war against the government.
Delegates at a special assembly voted 560 to four in favor of abolishing the monarchy. Hours before, suspected royalists threw three small, homemade bombs in Nepal's capital, wounding one person.
The government has told unpopular King Gyanendra to vacate his pink pagoda-roofed palace in the capital Kathmandu within a fortnight, or be forced out. He has made few comments on his future plans, except to say he wanted to remain in Nepal.
On hearing the result of the vote, thousands of people danced in the streets of Kathmandu, many waving different party flags and chanting "Welcome to a republic". The government declared the next two days a public holiday.
"Today is the day when my dreams have been realized and similarly the dreams of the nation have perhaps also been realized," Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said in an address to the assembly.
Activists of the royalist militant group Ranabir Sena threw pamphlets at the site of one of Wednesday's blasts, demanding that Nepal remain a Hindu kingdom, police said.
Two bombs exploded only meters away from the heavily guarded venue for the assembly while another went off in a city park.
