Nepal completes polls in local admin units

KATHMANDU :Nepalis voted in the final round of municipal elections on Monday, an important step before a general election in November that will complete a near decade-long democratic transition after the abolition of Nepal’s monarchy.

The final round of voting covers parts of the restive southern plains that border India and are dominated by the ethnic Madhesi people. More than 2.6 million people are eligible to choose more than 6,000 representatives in 136 municipal, officials said.

Voting in the area had been delayed since June after the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN), which dominates the area, called for a boycott of the poll, a call that was only partially successful.

Scores of people were killed in 2015 and 2016, mainly in clashes with police, in protests by the Madhesis against a new constitution that they said left them marginalised and favoured those living in the hills. The Madhesis are demanding a unified homeland and greater participation in state organs, including parliament, the judiciary, bureaucracy, and the national army.

However, lawmakers rejected a government proposal last month to amend the constitution and meet some of the Madhesis’ demands. Pressure had mounted on the RJPN to take part in the municipal polls after some of its members quit the party and took part in the second round of polls in June. The first round was held in May.

The municipal elections, the first since 1997, are an attempt by the Nepalese government to restore democracy in the country at the local level.