Nepal's constituent assembly election has so far been dominated by communists, according to partial results announced.

The results showed the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) leading with 41 seats, followed by Nepali Congress with 32.

But the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) which has accumulated a surprisingly low total of eight seats so far has refused appeals to reverse its decision to boycott the vote counting.

Party leaders have demanded that the counting be stopped and an independent probe launched because of alleged irregularities in the ballot.

"We have formally filed our complaint with the election commission," United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) spokesman Agni Sapkota said, adding that the party would meet this weekend to decide its next move.

The Maoists say that ballot boxes went missing for hours, were switched or disappeared while being transported to counting centres.

However, independent election observers including former US president Jimmy Carter insisted that the elections had been fair, honest and free of any irregularities that they were aware of.

Mr Carter met Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal late on Thursday in an unsuccessful effort to persuade him to drop the boycott, accept the results and take part in the elected constituent assembly.

Government and election officials have rejected the party's claims of irregularities.

Final results from Tuesday's vote to elect 601 constituent assembly members are not expected until late next week as ballot boxes were still being transported by helicopters - and even on foot by porters - to counting centres in the mountainous country.