The people of Nepal await results of yesterday's elections

As life returns to normal in Nepal after landmark elections yesterday, people eagerly await poll results. They are expected to change the political landscape of the entire country by disbanding the monarchy and providing representation for former Maoist rebels.

Results for one constituency have been announced in Kathmandu, where the Nepali Congressional Party overpowered the Nepali Communist Party's candidate.

Fear of violence overshadowed the elections for a constituent assembly. Their task... to rewrite the constitution, effectively abolishing the monarchy and bringing Maoists onto the political stage.

Thankfully the voting process remained relatively quiet and voters in the volatile Terai area in the south of the country defied a call for a boycott by rebels.

An estimated 60 percent of the 17.6 million voters cast ballots at 20,000 polling stations.

[Sri Krishna Thapa, Government Employee]:
"The parties should unite to fulfill the public's aspirations and there must be strict laws put in place by the constituent assembly."

[Durga Prasad Ariyal, Kathmandu Resident]:
"The constitution should be made so that the people can live peacefully. The public should not be repented."

The election of an assembly to write a new constitution has been one of the key demands by the Maoists.

Major parties have agreed to ditch the 240-year-old monarchy at the assembly's first sitting.

Worries remain over a possible backlash by staunch royalists, among them some Hindus, who see the king as a reincarnation of a Hindu god.

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News & Politics

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