Nepal Maoist win rings false alarm bells abroad

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A victory for Nepal's Maoist rebels may have set off alarm bells in Washington and New Delhi, but the former rebels are set to focus on development, pursue pragmatic policies and avoid ruffling foreign feathers.

With counting continuing after last week's election, the Maoists are almost certain to become Nepal's biggest party and head of a new coalition government in the Himalayas. Even they seem shocked by the result, and a little daunted.

"My gut feeling is that this victory will make the Maoists more and more of a responsible party," said Rhoderick Chalmers, Nepal head of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

"They now have a tremendous burden of expectations to deliver on their promises, and they are intelligent enough to realise they can't do it on their own."

The victory wrong-footed neighbouring India, which helped bring the Maoists into the peace process but expected them to come third in the elections -- and is worried the result could encourage its own Maoist insurgency.

It will have shocked the United States, which always opposed negotiations with the guerrillas and still considers them a terrorist organisation.

And the result will also make uncomfortable reading for Nepal's conservative military establishment, traditionally loyal to the Maoists' bitter foe, Nepal's 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.

The army was not defeated by the Maoists during a decade-long civil war that ended in 2006, and has since resisted absorbing former guerrilla fighters into its ranks.