Nepal’s Election Commission has fixed April 10 as the date for by-elections in constituencies that have fallen vacant, the first elections since the country’s former Maoist rebels formed a government, official media reports said yesterday.
The by-elections will be a gauge of the popularity of Nepal’s Maoists, who emerged as the single largest party in the constituent assembly last year.
The Nepali Election Commission said voting would take place for six constituencies in western and southeastern Nepal after seats were vacated by the incumbents in last year’s assembly election, the government-owned Rising Nepal newspaper reported.
The commission said electronic machines would be used and government-issued identification documents were mandatory for people to cast their ballots.
Identification was not required during the previous election.
Elections are to take place in two constituencies in Morang district in eastern Nepal for seats vacated by ethnic Madhesi leaders and one constituency in Rolpa district in western Nepal, which was vacated by Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachandra, who also won a seat in a Kathmandu constituency.
Rolpa district is considered a Maoist heartland and was the staging point for many Maoist guerrilla operations.
Similarly, Nepali President Ram Baran Yadav gave up his Dhanusha district seat in southeastern Nepal after he was elected president.
With 220 seats in the 601-seat constituent assembly, the Maoist former rebels now lead Nepal’s coalition government.
The party has, however, come under strong criticism for its inability to control spiralling inflation and improve law and order.
The outcome of the election will not change the overall power balance in the assembly, which is tasked with drafting a new constitution for the Himalayan nation.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS