Nepal votes to elect new parliament, counting to start tonight

Millions of Nepalese began voting on Sunday to elect a new parliament and provincial assemblies amid tight security hoping to end the political instability that has plagued the country for more than a decade and impeded growthThe polling started at 7 am local time at over 22000 polling centres and will close at 5 pmThe counting of votes will begin from 9 pm on Sunday amid tight security Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya saidSpeaking to the media after voting from a polling station in Bhaktapur Thapaliya said the counting will start at 9 pm today after collecting all the ballot boxesThapaliya said the commission would announce all the firstpastthepost results in the next eight days while the results of proportional representation elections would be announced by December 8More than 179 million eligible voters will elect a 275member House of RepresentativesOut of a total of 275 Members of Parliament 165 will be elected through direct voting while the remaining 110 will be elected through a proportional electoral systemAt the same time voters will also choose representatives to seven provincial assembliesOut of a total of 550 members of the provincial assemblies 330 will be elected directly and 220 will be elected through the proportional methodPolitical observers closely watching the elections have predicted a hung parliament and a government that is unlikely to provide the required political stability in NepalPolitical instability has been a recurrent feature of Nepals Parliament since the end of the decadelong Maoist insurgency and no prime minister has served a full term after the civil war ended in 2006 The frequent changes and fighting among parties have been blamed for the countrys slow economic growthThere are two major political alliances contesting the polls the ruling Nepali Congressled democratic and leftist alliance and the CPNUMLled leftist and proHindu promonarchy allianceAlso Read IndiaNepal border to be sealed for 72 hrs before Nov 20 general polls in neighbouring countryNepali Congress led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba 76 has formed an electoral alliance with former Maoist guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda 67 against former premier K P Sharma Oli 70The Nepali Congressled ruling alliance includes CPNMaoist Centre CPNUnified Socialist and Madhesbased Loktantrik Samajwadi Party while the CPNUMLled alliance includes proHindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Madhesbased Janata Samajwadi PartyThe next government will face challenges of keeping a stable political administration reviving the tourism industry and balancing ties with neighbours China and IndiaOut of a total of 2412 candidates contesting the election for federal Parliament 867 are independentsAmong the major political parties the CPNUML has fielded 141 candidates while the Nepali Congress and CPNMaoist Centre have fielded 91 and 46 candidates respectivelySecurity has been stepped up in all 77 districts across the country with airpatrolling around polling stations and closing of international borders for 72 hoursThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever