Former Communist rebels won the most seats in Nepal's new governing assembly, an election official said Thursday based on preliminary results.

The former insurgents, known as the Maoists, are now expected to introduce sweeping changes although they will not have an absolute majority.

The Maoists won a total of 217 seats, while the Nepali Congress had 107 seats, Election Commission official Yam Bahadur Dura said. The other major party, the Communist Party of Nepal, was in third with slightly fewer seats.

The election was held on April 10 with plans for the 601-seat Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution for Nepal.

The United Nations said voters showed "overwhelming enthusiasm" for the election that many hope will usher in a new era in this largely impoverished and often violent country.

Among the biggest likely changes is the abolition of Nepal's 239-year-old monarchy, which the Maoists have repeatedly said must go.

The major parties have already agreed to abolish the monarchy at the assembly's first sitting. But the king still has supporters in the upper echelons of the army and among Hindu fundamentalists who see him as the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

In recent days, the Maoists have been in talks with the other major parties about forming an administration and are pushing for the creation of a president.

Seats in the assembly were chosen through a mix of direct elections and a proportional representation system.

The election was touted as the cornerstone of a 2006 peace deal struck with the Maoists following weeks of unrest that forced Nepal's king to cede power, which he had seized the year before.