19 million voters are eligible to go to the polls to elect 275 MLAs in the Himalayan nation
Voting has begun in the Himalayan nation of Nepal, where citizens will elect 275 lawmakers in the first general election since violent protests toppled the government of KP Sharma Oli last September.
After a violent uprising (dubbed the ‘Gen Z protests’) that left 77 dead and more than 2,000 injured, the nation’s parliament was dissolved. Since then an interim administration led by former Chief Justice of Nepal Sushila Karki has been in control.
Voting started at 7:00 am local time with 23,000 polling stations and will end at 5:00 pm.
The interim government has declared a three-day public holiday for voters to travel home in the country of 30 million people.
Apart from the Nepali Congress Party and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), new political organizations including the Rashtriya Swatantra Party Nepal (formed in 2022), the Shrama Sankruti Party and the Ujjalo Nepal are also in the fray.
According to reports, the Election Commission said that it will announce the results of 165 directly elected constituencies within two days.
A clear picture of the remaining 110 seats will take two more days to come out with proportional representation.
Former Prime Minister Oli told RT India in an interview in January that the Gen Z protests that led to the ouster of the government were unusual and carefully orchestrated.
A US-backed regime-change agency funded and guided the September coup in Nepal, an independent US news outlet, The Grayzone, reported in December.
Former rapper Balendra Shah, who has been tapped by Rashtriya Swatantra Party Nepal as its top candidate, Oli is contesting from the Zapa-5 constituency.
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