Voting underway to elect new President

KATHMANDU: The voting to elect the new President is currently underway at the Federal Parliament Building in New Baneshwar.

Separate polling stations have been set up at Lhotse Hall for members of the federal parliament and province assemblies. According to Amrita Kumari Sharma, assistant electoral officer, voting will continue till 3 pm.

Two experienced politicians – Ram Chandra Paudel of Nepali Congress and Subash Chandra Nembang of CPN-UML – are competing in the country’s third presidential election.

Nepal adopted a republican set up after the 2006 movement. Ram Baran Yadav of the Nepali Congress was elected as Nepal’s first president in 2008. The incumbent President Bidya Devi Bhandari of CPN-UML was elected for her first term in 2015 and second term in 2018. Her term is expiring on March 13.

The President is elected by an electoral college comprising members of the Federal Parliament (House of Representatives and the National Assembly) and seven province assemblies.  Altogether 882 voters – 332 federal parliament members and 550 province assembly members – cast their votes in the presidential election. While the federal parliament members carry 79 weighted votes, province assembly members have 48 weighted votes.

As per the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, a person who has been elected president twice cannot run for the next election.

Poudel is the favorite to win as he commands the support of the nine-party coalition. Nembang has the support of only his party CPN-UML.

The election results are expected to be announced by 7 pm on Thursday, according to election officer Mahesh Sharma Paudel.