Nepal’s king Gyanendra vowed today to hold elections in the Himalayan kingdom but gave no firm dates and did not go beyond previous promises to resolve a raging campaign against his rule.

Political parties leading the movement against the king were quick to reject his offer, suggesting the monarch’s message—broadcast at the stroke of midnight at the start of the Nepali new year—was unlikely to defuse violent protests that have killed four people in the past week and wounded hundreds.

‘‘It is our wish that in order to re-energise multi-party democracy there should not be any delay in reactivating all representative bodies through elections,’’ the king’s message said. The message was largely a repeat of earlier promises to hold elections by April 2007.

Although an alliance of Nepal’s seven main political parties was yet to formally react to the king’s proposal, senior leaders said his offer was too little, too late.

‘‘The king is not sincere about solving the political problem and the conflict in the country,’’ said Krishna Prasad Sitaula, a top leader of the Nepali Congress, the largest party. ‘‘He seems to be interested in continuing his autocratic rule. We’ll further intensify our protests,’’ he said.

Amrit Kumar Bohara, a top leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), the alliance’s second largest party, echoed those sentiments. ‘‘There is nothing new and concrete. Only old things have been presented in a new style and rhetoric. We’ll not give up our protests,’’ he said.

The monarch’s call also apparently ruled out any involvement of Maoist rebels who have joined hands with mainstream political parties to form a loose alliance against the king. —Reuters