Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

486 • NEPALESE MAOISTSties, but his winning an even larger 17.8 percent in the second roundof elections, in which voter participation had increased 11 percentover the first round, seems to indicate apparent growing support forLe Pen’s agenda among a portion of the French electorate. In Italy’srecent 2006 elections, the AN won 12.3 percent of the popular votewhile the new PdL party into which it merged won 37.4 percent ofthe popular vote, giving it 276 deputies in the 630-seat chamber ofdeputies and 146 senators in the 315 elective seats of the senate. InSouth Africa, after Eugene Terre-Blanche was released from prisonin June 2004, he had renounced his racist views and the AWBseemed moribund. On March 2008, however, the AWB reasserteditself and rallied some 5,000 supporters to the cause of creating anall-white Volkstaat either within the federal system of South Africaor as an independent secessionist state.The most curious instance of neo-Nazi activity was the discoveryin August 2007 of the existence of a neo-Nazi group of eight Israelicitizens from the former Soviet Union, aged 16–21, who had beenattacking foreigners, homosexuals, and religious Jews, includingvandalizing a synagogue in Petah Tikva. Although considered Jewishunder the Law of Return, these individuals identified strongly withNazism, and searches of their homes revealed Nazi memorabilia,pictures of Adolf Hitler, guns, and explosives. This incident has ledseveral Israelis to call for a revision of the Law of Return in order torevoke Israeli citizenship from neo-Nazis and to deport them.NEPALESE MAOISTS. The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist(CPN-M) is the largest of the four insurgent groups in Nepal seekingto overthrow the monarchy in favor of a Marxist-Leninist state. Itsmilitary wing is called the People’s Liberation Army and its politicalinfrastructure is called the United People’s Front. The CPN-M isbelieved to have around 5,500 combatants, several of them formerGurkha soldiers of the British and Indian armies, and around 4,500cadres. The CPN-M enjoys a hard-core following of more than30,000 followers and a much broader base of sympathizers whoagree with the group’s goal of overthrowing the monarchy in favor ofa republic even if they do not accept all of the Communist ideals andgoals of the group. In fact, on 28 May 2008, the transitional governmentof Nepal announced that the monarchy had been abolished infavor of a federal republic following the CPN-M electoral victory on