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.
The Office of the Election Officer confirmed that the result of the presidential elections will be announced at 7 pm (NST).
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.
There will thus be a total weightage of 52,786 votes in the Electoral College if no seat in the federal parliament and provincial assembly is vacant. A candidate must secure most of the votes to secure the top post. The weightage of one vote of the federal parliament lawmaker is 79 and that of a Province Assembly member is 48.
In the Presidential election, senior Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Paudel is supported by eight parties while Subash Chandra Nembang, the sole candidate from CPN-UML, is expected to be supported 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.
( With inputs from ANI )
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