New Delhi: Ram Chandra Paudel was elected as the third president of Nepal on Thursday after receiving nearly two-thirds of votes by weightage from members of the country’s federal parliament and provincial assemblies.
Paudel was a nominee of the Nepali Congress. After Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) threw his weight behind Paudel, it created a rift in the then-ruling alliance between the Maoist Centre and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), led by former PM K.P. Oli. After the UML quit the alliance, Prachanda realigned with the Nepali Congress – with which he had a pre-poll alliance before last year’s election.
According to Kathmandu Post, out of 52,628 votes by weightage, Paudel secured 33,802 votes while Subas Nembang of the CPN-UML garnered 15,518 votes. Members of the House of Representatives (lower house of parliament), National Assembly (upper house of parliament) and seven provincial assemblies voted to elect Nepal’s head of state.
The newspaper reported that while 881 federal and provincial lawmakers were eligible to vote, 831 votes were cast in the presidential election on Thursday. This included 313 federal lawmakers and 518 provincial assembly members.
A total of 14 federal Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmakers and Prem Suwal of the Nepal Majdoor Kishaan Party did not take part in the voting.
Outgoing president Bidya Devi Bhandari’s term ends on March 12.
Paudel is a former speaker of the House of Representatives and was deputy prime minister between 2000 and 2002. He has been elected as a lawmaker six times.