KATHMANDU (AFP) - Political parties in Nepal, who agreed to abolish the monarchy and set up a republic, were Tuesday squabbling bitterly over power-sharing in a new government. Since the ex-rebel Maoists surprisingly swept April elections for an assembly to write a new constitution, the question of the make-up of the next government has severely tested an alliance of seven parties. The alliance orchestrated massive street demonstrations that forced the unpopular king to restore democracy in April 2006. And it more or less held during the interim governing period. But cooperation is no longer the word on everyone's tongue. "We are stuck in bad deadlock," senior Maoist ideologue C P Gaujrel told AFP. "We feel that the Nepali people have given us the right to lead the govt and country," he said. "But the Nepali Congress and other parties are finding it hard to leave the govt that they are in." "Since the Maoist party emerged as the single largest party, the other political parties are making meaningless demands. It's sheer double standards," Gaujrel complained. The former rebels, who fought a bloody civil war for a decade to topple the monarchy, say they deserve the prime ministerial and presidential positions in a new government. But others disagree. "We are demanding that a non-Maoist take the post of constitutional president so that we can balance power," Congress general secretary Ram Baran Yadav told AFP. The Maoists cannot be allowed to rule alone as they have not yet fully made the transition from terrorist outfit to mainstream political actors, the senior Congress official said. "The Maoists have still not given up the politics of bullying, intimidation and harassment. We do not believe that they are ready to give up violence," he added. Although the Maoists say they have embraced democracy, they still refuse to completely renounce violence, their leader said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper published Tuesday. "I don't think there will be any kind of necessity to use arms again," Prachanda - whose name means "the fierce one" - told Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Around 20,000 former Maoist fighters and their weapons are confined to UN-monitored camps as part of a peace deal reached in 2006, and Prachanda refused to renounce the right of the Maoists to resort to armed struggle again. "It doesn't mean nobody should take arms to resist oppression of the government or something like that. I can't predict that," he said. The ex-rebels claimed another major victory last Wednesday when the constituent assembly officially abolished Nepal's 240-year-old monarchy. Former king Gyanendra has been given official notice to leave his palace at the heart of Kathmandu before June 12. The home minister met him on Monday and announced that the fallen monarch was ready to leave. The new republic deal capped a rocky two-year peace deal between the Maoists and political parties that ended the bloody civil war in which 13,000 people were killed.