Ram Chandra Paudel elected new Nepal President

KATHMANDU: Ram Chandra Paudel has been elected as the new Nepal president. Paudel secured 33 thousand 8 hundred and 2 electoral votes while his rival Subash Chandra Nembwang secured 15 thousand 5 hundred and 18 electoral votes, according to Nepal's Election Commission.

Further, according to Nepal's Election Commission, 313 members of the federal parliament took part in the voting while 518 members from the Province assemblies also participated in the electoral process to pick the next president.

The voting took place at Nepal's Parliament building in New Baneshwar, Kathmandu. The Election Commission in the Himalayan nation had set up two separate polling stations for federal parliamentarians and the Province Assembly members at the Hall.

Lawmakers from all provinces have arrived in Kathmandu for the election. A total of 884 members make up the Electoral College, including 275 members of the House of Representatives, 59 of the National Assembly and 550 of the seven provincial assemblies. Paudel was supported by eight parties while Subash Chandra Nembang, the sole candidate from CPN-UML, was tipped to be backed by independent lawmakers.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) had not supported or proposed any candidate for president. Both Paudel and Nembang had later met RPP chairman Rajendra Lingden and other office-bearers at RPP's office and sought their votes in the election.

However, RPP had decided to abstain from voting on the eve of the presidential election. Most of the central working committee members had opined at a five-hour-long meeting on Wednesday that the party should not participate in the presidential election as it stays rooted in its core agenda, which favours the restoration of monarchy.

RPP spokesperson Mohan Shrestha confirmed that the central working committee has decided to stay neutral in the presidential election. "It has been unanimously decided to not participate and stay neutral in the presidential election," Shrestha said.