Prachanda (11 December 1954) is the Prime Minister of Nepal. A communist revolutionary, politician, and former guerrilla leader, he is the Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the largest political party, according to the election result held in 2008, in Nepal. Under his leadership, the CPN (M) launched the Nepalese Civil War on 13 February 1996, in which about 13,000 people died in fighting between the party and the government.