Nepal votes in first election under new constitution

CHAUTARA (Nepal): Millions of Nepalis headed to the polls yesterday for a historic election billed as a turning point for the impoverished Himalayan nation, hoping to end the ruinous instability that has plagued the country since the end of a bloody civil war a decade ago.

The two-phase elections for national and provincial parliaments are the first under a new post-war constitution born out of a peace deal that ended the 10-year Maoist insurgency in 2006 and set the country on a path from monarchy to democracy.

It took nine years after the end of the conflict for the new charter to be agreed on, as a series of brittle coalition governments bickered over the country’s future as a federal democratic state.

Many hope the elections, which will establish the country’s first provincial assemblies, will end political turbulence and limit the impact of the horse-trading in Kathmandu on much needed development in the country.

“Because the government changes every nine months, development work has not been able to continue. Our wish is for a stable government,” said voter Santosh Kumar Shrestha.

About 3.2 million people across the north of the country, including areas badly hit by a devastating earthquake two years ago, are eligible to vote in yesterday’s first phase. The more populous south will vote in 10 days.

Nepal’s new constitution, finally passed in 2015, lays out a sweeping overhaul of the political system and aims to devolve power away from the central government to seven newly created provinces.

New rules will weed out fringe parties from the parliaments and raises the bar for ousting a prime minister, leading to hopes the next government could be the first to last a full five-year term. AFP