Kathmandu, March 9
Ram Chandra Paudel has been elected the president of Nepal.
In a vote held in Kathmandu on Thursday, Paudel of the Nepali Congress defeated Subas Chandra Nembang of the CPN-UML.
In the election, where different vote weights were assigned to members of the electoral college consisting of federal and provincial parliamentarians, Paudel secured 33,802 votes from 214 federal and 352 provincial lawmakers. Besides his own party, CPN-Maoist Centre, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, CPN-Unified Socialist, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party and Rastriya Janamorcha voted for him.
Nembang secured 15,518 votes from 96 federal and 162 provincial lawmakers.
Only the lawmakers associated with the UML voted for Nembang as Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party abstained from voting.
The former deputy prime minister and House of Representatives speaker will take over the top position of the country on Monday, one day after incumbent Bidya Devi Bhandari completes her tenure.
Who is Ram Chandra Paudel?
The 78-year-old leader is in politics for over six decades now. He is one of the most senior leaders of the Nepali Congress party today.
Paudel is one of the founders of the Nepal Students Union, the student wing of the party. He was elected a central committee member of the party in the late 1970s and is there since that date.
Paudel has been elected to the House of Representatives from his home constituency in Tanahun six times including the latest in the elections held last year. He was the speaker of the House from 1994 to 1999.
After being elected the head of the state, he is required to resign from the House seat.
