People in Nepal began voting on Sunday morning in the first elections in the country since monarchy was abolished a decade ago. The first phase of the provincial and parliamentary polls is being held across 32 mountainous districts. Around 32 lakh voters are eligible to participate in Sunday’s first phase.
The centrist Nepali Congress Party, led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, finds itself up against a strong Left coalition of former Maoist rebels and the Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist).
The second phase of voting will take place on December 7.
A series of minor blasts were reported in the run-up to the first phase, which the Army has attributed to a Maoist group, Reuters reported. Around 30 improvised explosive devices have been defused since Friday.
Nepal’s constitution came into force in 2015, almost nine years after a peace deal ended the decade-long Maoist insurgency, paving way for democracy from monarchy. It is hoped that the new government that gets elected will be stable and be the first to last a full five-year term.
The last 11 years have seen as many as 10 leaders in the country, apart from widespread corruption and devastation after a powerful earthquake in 2015.
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