BIDUR, Nepal (AFP) -- Even with constant police protection, Ram Babu Khatri Chettri, a mayoral candidate in next week's Nepali local elections, is a worried man.

The greying 60-year-old farmer is concerned about Maoist rebel threats to disrupt the polls called by Nepal's king and also fearful they will be a whitewash.

The February 8 elections have been touted by King Gyanendra as the first step in restoring democracy after he seized power one year ago.

But the country's seven main political parties, sidelined in the power grab, have branded them a sham and declared a boycott.

Maoist rebels, waging a bloody insurgency with government forces that has killed more than 12,000 people since 1996, have stepped up violence in protest at the polls.

One pro-royal candidate was killed last week and police say unidentified gunmen shot another on Monday, the first day of official campaigning.

Khatri Chettri, who is running for mayor of this small town, said the elections initially seemed like a great opportunity.

"I filed because the king said that there would be free and fair elections, and that power would return to the people," he told AFP Monday. "Many of the other candidates are government men. They have money and muscle power. I am poor, but people know that I am honest, so hopefully people will be in favor of me."

The farmer was a member of the Nepali Congress party until last year, but is now running as an independent.

"The Nepali Congress never gave me any positions, even though I was an honest member for a long time," said Khatri Chettri, who joined the party when he was twelve.

The Nepali Congress and other opposition parties are staging a nationwide campaign to dissuade people from voting, insisting the king must give back the powers he seized on February 1 last before any elections can take place.

With the threat of reprisals hanging over candidates, not enough have registered to fill all of the positions. In Bidur, some 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Kathmandu, 59 positions in local councils are up for grabs, but only 41 candidates have decided to run.

Attempting to protect them, armed police and soldiers patrol the main street and stop and search vehicles at security posts at either end of the town, home to 30,000 people.

Maoists are not normally active in the area but they detonated three home-made bombs in government buildings 10 days ago, although noone was injured.

Since filing his candidacy, Khatri Chettri has been staying in a guesthouse with the other candidates, guarded by security forces day and night.

Two plain-clothes police officers also accompany him everywhere and for security reasons he is only allowed to campaign along a 300-meter stretch of the main road. "I don't like living in a security cordon," he said. "I tried to go to my home which is about an hour's walk away but security personnel would not let me."

"The government says that there is democracy, but we can't go to the people to ask for their votes. I don't think that this is a very democratic process and the whole thing is very depressing," he said.

His family opposed him standing, and remain worried he may be harmed, "but I just wanted to be mayor of my town," the slightly built farmer said.

As election day nears, so does his list of concerns. "People have been saying that the government will cast fake votes and make pro-royal people win," said Khatri Chettri. "I am facing a grave dilemma. If I find any truth to the rumors, I will resign before polling day."