Nepal to hold general elections in November

By Deepak Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nepal

The government said Monday it will hold general elections in Nepal on Nov. 26, a key step towards implementing its two-year old constitution.

Nepalese will elect their representatives in the parliament and state assemblies, and set up a federal system of governance which the new constitution, adopted in 2015, aims to establish.

Some 15 million voters are eligible for the upcoming elections.

For the 275-member parliament, 165 lawmakers will be directly elected and 110 will be elected through proportional representation.

More than 100 political parties are expected to field their candidates, but the three political parties -- the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and (Maoists) -- that have nationwide political base, are likely to win majority of the seats.

The country held its last general elections in 2013, seven years after a peace deal ended a Maoist insurgency which left thousands dead.

Local body elections were held this May and June, after a 20-year hiatus.

Nepal has had four prime ministers since the last parliamentary polls were held in 2013.

One of the poorest countries in South Asia, political instability and natural disasters has hurt its recovery efforts.

Some 150 people were killed last week when floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains devastated huge swathes of the country.