Nepalese yesterday began voting for a new parliament with the army on alert as a series of small blasts blamed on a rogue Maoist group reminded the Himalayan nation of the violence and instability it is hoping to leave behind.
More than a decade after the end of a civil war between Maoist peasant guerrillas and security forces, Nepal is hoping this election — the first parliamentary polls since 1999 — will complete its long journey from a monarchy to become a federal republic.
A second phase of the election is to take place on Dec. 7, and the election commission has said that the final results probably would not be known for several days, because of the cumbersome counting procedures.
Photo: AFP
A Maoist splinter group was behind a series of small blasts in the run-up to the polls, army spokesman Nain Raj Dahal said, adding that security forces have defused about 30 improvised explosive devices since Friday.
For all the security concerns, voting was largely incident-free.
“Except for some minor complaints from a few places, polling in all areas is smooth and peaceful so far,” Election Commission member Ila Sharma said.
Suresh Balsami was the first voter at Kagatigaun polling center, about an hour’s drive mostly on a dusty and winding road from Kathmandu.
“I voted for peace, development and prosperity of the country,” the 32-year-old bus driver said, as other voters began to trickle into the polling center in a public school ringed by pine trees.
Candidates have used everything from mules to drones flying their party flags to reach voters in remote areas with no roads, according to media reports.
Nepal voted in 2008 and 2013 for a constituent assembly, which doubled as parliament, to write a post-monarchy charter that plotted the course to becoming a federal republic.
More than 15 million eligible voters are to pick a 275-member legislature, the first under a new constitution that was agreed after years of wrangling.
Simultaneously, voters are to choose representatives to seven provincial assemblies for the first time since Nepal abolished the monarchy in 2008.
The centrist Nepali Congress party, considered a pro-India group, has formed a loose electoral alliance with the Madhesi parties from the nation’s southern plains bordering India and former royalists.
Facing the alliance is a tight-knit left coalition between the former Maoist rebels and the main opposition communist UML party, perceived to be closer to China.
Wedged between India and China, Nepal needs to balance ties, but the outcome of the election could determine which of the Asian giants gets the upper hand in the battle for influence in the buffer state.
Both are looking to benefit from Nepal’s potential as a source of hydropower.
Home to Mount Everest and one of the poorest nations in the world, Nepal depends on tourism and aid. More than one-fifth of its 28 million people survive on less than US$1.90 a day, and parts of the country are still recovering from a devastating earthquake that killed 9,000 people in 2015.
Rita Shrestha, a 49-year-old housewife whose house was damaged in the tremor, rued the slow pace of reconstruction.
“We need roads, water supply, electricity, healthcare and jobs so our children are not forced to go abroad to work,” Shrestha, wrapped in a red woolen shawl, said after casting her vote.
Millions of young Nepalis work mainly as laborers in the Middle East, South Korea and Malaysia.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including