NEPAL VOTES IN FIRST LOCAL ELECTION IN TWO DECADES
Voting was held on Sunday in Nepal’s first local elections for two decades, a landmark moment in the country’s fraught transition to democracy.
Polls opened in three provinces at 7 am local time, with nearly 50,000 candidates vying for the position of mayor, deputy mayor, ward chairman and ward member in 283 municipalities of the country.
With nearly 70% of the population aged under 35, many are electing their local representatives for the first time.
The local representatives were last elected in 1997 and their five-year terms expired at the height of the brutal Maoist insurgency.
The 10-year war ended in 2006 and the country began a rocky transition from a Hindu monarchy to a secular federal republic, which has seen it cycle through nine governments.
The long gap between polls has left an institutional void at local level, which has seen graft become a way of life in Nepal, hampering the delivery of basic services as well as the recovery from a devastating 2015 earthquake.
Long queues formed early outside polling stations in the capital Kathmandu, many eager voters sheltering under umbrellas from the harsh sun.
The ballot paper in the capital -- one of the largest constituencies -- was around one metre long to accommodate names of the 878 candidates.