The former rebels surprise everyone with a stunning electoral success. That may prove to have been the easy part

THE red flags and Maoist slogans on pavements and office blocks in Kathmandu, Nepal's pleasant, down-at-heel capital, were daubed in protest. But this week, as results came in from an election held on April 10th, they assumed a radical new meaning: ownership. Defying every prediction but its own, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), until two years ago a feared rebel army, won handsomely.

A complicated electoral system, in which around 40% of seats are directly elected and 60% through proportional representation, has held up final results. But the Maoists, ...