King Gyanendra said the security situation in the country had improved since he fired a civilian government and seized power on February 1 ostensibly to end a deadly Maoist revolt.

"As peace and security in the country have improved, the country is gearing up for municipal and general elections," state media quoted him as saying late Friday on his return to the capital Kathmandu from a three-week foreign trip.

"Restoration of a lasting peace and a meaningful exercise in multiparty democracy is what Nepal needs and what the Nepalese people yearn for," he said.

However, the king said the nation's "determination in conducting free and fair elections, which is the very soul of democracy, can be realised only if violence is renounced."

Opposition parties which have announced plans to team up with the Maoists to restore democracy in the world's only Hindu kingdom say they will boycott the municipal polls, calling them a bid "to camouflage the lack of democracy".

On Friday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Kathmandu in pro-democracy demonstrations timed to coincide with King Gyanendra's return. Political leaders say they plan more protests in the weeks ahead.

King Gyanendra made no comment on the plans by the seven mainstream parties to form a pro-democracy alliance with the Maoists as long as the insurgents lay down their arms.

Last week, the RSS news agency, seen as a government mouthpiece, denounced the link-up between the parties and the Maoists as an "unholy alliance."