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A meeting of five major political parties called by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to resolve the impasse regarding elections for the formation of the National Assembly (NA) ended inconclusively on Friday. Deuba had called the meeting of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Janata Party - Nepal (RJP-N) and Sanghiya Samajwadi Forum Nepal (SSFN) at his official residence in Baluwatar.  The meeting slated to hold discussions on various matters, including the ordinance related to the National Assembly elections, could not reach a solid conclusion since the parties remained firm on their respective contradictory stands, the  Kathmandu Post reported. Present in the meeting were CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli, CPN MC chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, RJP-N Presidium Co-ordinator Mahantha Thakur and SSFN chairman Upendra Yadav, among other leaders. The ordinance regarding the formation of the National Assembly that was sent to the president for authentication was on hold following a dispute among the parties. Oli expressed serious reservations over the National Assembly ordinance, stating that the Single Transferable Vote System was “unconstitutional”, hence making way for  consensus difficult.  However, NC leaders defended the constitutional character of the ordinance and the party will work on its progression, said party leader Bimalendra Nidhi.  RJP-N leader Manahta Thakur and SSFN chairman Upendra Yadav had also agreed on the ordinance sent by the government. Meanwhile, Dahal said that the National Assembly elections will not deter the formation  of the new government under the leftist alliance.  He said the government formation process would move ahead only after the Election Commission submits its results of the House of Representatives election. “In general, National Assembly and House of Representatives are different. NA election won’t affect the formation of the government,” he said. “Regarding the formation of the NA, earlier constitution had clearly mentioned the Single Transferable Voting system, however, this constitution has mentioned the NA but it has not clarified its formation procedure,” he stressed. “As per international practice the National Assembly is formed in more inclusive proportional representation. In this regard, we will hold discussion within the leftist parties,” Dahal said. Speaking on a different note, he said that an agreement was forged between the UML and Maoist Centre in leading the government turn by turn. He said he was “positive” despite the five-party meeting failing to pave the way for the formation of the National Assembly.

Counting of votes for 110 seats of house of representative and 220 of state assemblies under proportional representation has concluded in Nepal. The left alliance of CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Center) has got maximum votes. As per preliminary figures, CPN (UML) has got more than 3.17mn votes. After worst ever defeat in direct election the ruling Nepali Congress has performed well in proportional representation. It is marginally behind from CPN (UML) and got more than 3.12mn popular votes. CPN (Maoist Center) is on third place with little over 1.3mn votes. The two major parties of Madhes – Rashtriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) and Sanghiya Samjawadi Forum Nepal (SSFN) – have also done well. RJPN is on fourth position with 472,000 votes followed by SSFN with 470,000 votes. Other parties have got 996,000 popular votes. The proportional representation seats will be allotted among different parties on the basis of their vote share after compilation of final figures. The leftist alliance has won two-thirds seats in direct election for 165 seats of house of Representative and 330 of state assemblies in seven provinces. The historic election for 275 seats of lower house of parliament and 550 seats of provincial assembly were held in two phases on November 26 and December 7.

Nepal’s Communist parties were headed yesterday for a landslide win in elections seen as a turning point after two decades of conflict, political instability and disaster that have crippled the Himalayan country. The landmark elections for national and provincial parliaments capped Nepal’s 11-year transition from monarchy to federal democracy after a brutal civil war. Many hope they will usher in a much-needed period of stability in the impoverished country, which has cycled through 10 prime ministers since 2006. An alliance of the main Communist party and the country’s former Maoist rebels is expected to form the next government, ousting the ruling centrist Nepali Congress. “If Nepali Congress had done good work, it would not be wiped out like this from the country. The people are giving these parties a chance but if they do nothing for the country, they will also be wiped out,” said one voter, 66-year-old farmer Lachu Prasad Bohara. The Himalayan Times said the leftist alliance’s strong mandate meant the country “could experience political stability”, which it has lacked over the last decade, but cautioned that a strong opposition was also crucial in the young  democracy. With counting still going on, the alliance has won 105 seats in the national parliament, according to preliminary data from the election commission. The incumbent Nepali  Congress has won just 21. That puts the alliance on course for a hefty majority in the country’s 275-seat parliament.  The assembly is made up of 165 directly-elected seats, while the rest are allocated on a proportional representation basis, guaranteeing seats for women, people from indigenous communities and the  lowest Dalit caste. The Communist bloc is also leading in six out of seven provincial assemblies mandated in a new national constitution. The charter was finally agreed by parliament in 2015 in a rare moment of cross-party consensus, months after the country was devastated by a powerful earthquake. It laid the ground for a sweeping overhaul of the political system to devolve power from the centre to newly-created provinces. It was intended to build on the promise of a more inclusive society, integral to the 2006 peace deal that ended the decade-long civil war between Maoists and the state. But the constitution sparked deadly protests among ethnic minorities who said the provincial boundaries it laid out had been gerrymandered to limit their voice. The leftist alliance campaigned on a promise to bring economic growth to Nepal. “We will take the country towards peace and stability and move forward on the road of prosperity,” Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-UML) leader K P Sharma Oli said in a television interview late Sunday. Oli is expected to be elected as the next prime minister when parliament sits for the first time, likely in early January. Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a two-time former prime minister who led the rebel faction during the war, is also tipped for a prominent  position in the next cabinet. During Oli’s last term in office, relations between Kathmandu and New Delhi reached a nadir after protests over the new constitution led to a blockade of the border with India and a crippling shortage of goods in landlocked, import-dependent Nepal. The Communist leader blamed the blockade on India, stoked nationalistic sentiment and aggressively courted China for much-needed infrastructure development – undermining New Delhi’s influence over its small northern neighbour. Analyst Prateek Pradhan warned that Oli needed to take a more pragmatic approach to balancing relations with both regional powers if he is to deliver on his campaign promise of growth. “Nepal has to have good relations with India and that doesn’t mean you have to compromise on sovereignty,”  Pradhan said. The newly-elected provincial assemblies will be tasked with naming their provinces, which are currently referred to by a number, choosing capitals and negotiating budgets with Kathmandu – all issues that could rekindle ethnic unrest. But the protest movements have lost momentum as voters have become fed up with the political merry-go-round that has starved the country of much-needed development. Most voters voiced a desire for stability and a longer- lasting government. The new constitution lays out strict rules for ousting a prime minister.

An alliance of Nepal’s former Maoist rebels and the main Communist party has won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections and are expected to form the next government, according to preliminary results from the election commission late  yesterday. The Communist CPN-UML and the Maoist Party look set for a landslide victory in the landmark polls that mark the end of the Himalayan nation’s drawn-out transition to federal democracy 11 years after the end of a brutal civil war. The leftist alliance has won 84 seats in the national parliament and leads in a further 31, securing a majority. The incumbent Nepali Congress has so far won just 13 seats, performing worse than expected. The lower house of parliament comprises 165 seats that are directly elected and a further 110 that are allocated to parties based on proportional representation votes. Early tallies show that the Communist alliance will also dominate in most of the seven newly-created provincial  assemblies. “We feel that the people accepted our appeal to vote for the ‘Left Alliance’ for stability and prosperity,” senior CPN-UML leader Pradeep Gyawali said.  “Our alliance is strong... We will prepare to form the government.” The polls for national and provincial parliaments were held in two phases, with the mountainous north voting on November 26 and the rest of the country on Thursday. They are the first elections held under the country’s new federal constitution, which was finally adopted in 2015 nine years after the end of the conflict and mandates a sweeping overhaul of the political system devolving power from the centre to the seven provinces. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the elections as “a historic moment for Nepal in implementing its federal structure as enshrined in the 2015  constitution”. Nepal emerged from a bloody civil war in 2006 and ousted the monarchy two years later, beginning its transition to a federal democratic state. But over the last 11 years a series of short-lived governments have bickered over the country’s future, allowing corruption to flourish and growth stagnate. It has also hampered the recovery from a devastating earthquake that hit in 2015, killing 9,000 and destroying more than half a million homes. The left alliance - which campaigned on a nationalistic platform that was at times anti-India - was tipped for victory but analysts expressed surprise at the strength of the mandate handed to them by voters. “They cashed in on agendas of development and nationalism,” said Sudheer Sharma, editor of the Kantipur newspaper. The next government could be the first to serve a full five-year term as rules under the new constitution make it harder to oust a prime minister. Final results are expected to take another 10 days due to the complicated counting process as well as the remoteness of some voting centres. Former Nepal prime minister K P Oli, second right,  yesterday looked set for a return to power after winning his seat in parliament.

Former Nepali prime minister K P Oli on Sunday looked set for a return to power after winning his seat in parliament and his Communist UML party and Maoist allies on course to win a majority. Counting is still under way following an election on Thursday that capped a near-decade long transition to democracy from monarchy and a civil war in which more than 17,000 people died. Oli, 65, has vowed to form a government that lasts its full five-year term, something no prime minister has achieved since parliamentary democracy was established in 1990. His campaign has called for the extension of the Chinese railway network into Nepal and implement of hydroelectric, airport and other infrastructure projects to create jobs. "We can expect Oli to lead a stable government with the Maoists as strong allies,” said Bipin Adhikari, a constitutional expert. "Once there is political stability he can implement a development agenda and attract foreign investment." Instability has spooked investors, curbed growth, spurred corruption and slowed reconstruction after a 2015 earthquake that killed 9,000 people. Nepal is a natural buffer between China and India, with the ruling Nepali Congress party considered pro-India and the left alliance seen closer to China. "If Oli leads the new government, he will be forced to be pragmatic in maintaining a geo-political balance with both,” said Kunda Dixit, editor of the weekly Nepali Times. Final election results are expected to take about a week, election officials said.

A leftist alliance between Nepal’s former Maoist rebels and moderate communists appeared to be heading for a victory in elections aimed at completing a transition to democracy after the abolition of the monarchy and end to civil war. Early tallies from Thursday’s vote show the leftists lead in 63 out of 80 constituencies where counting has begun. Nepal has seen 10 government changes in as many years. Instability has given rise to corruption, retarded growth and slowed recovery from a 2015 earthquake that killed 9,000 people. The election pits the centrist Nepali Congress party of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who heads a loose alliance that includes the Madhesi parties from Nepal’s southern plains and former royalists, against the tight-knit alliance of former Maoists and the moderate Communist UML party. The Nepali Congress party is considered a pro-India group, while the opposition alliance is seen as closer to China. Nepal is a natural buffer between the two and the outcome could indicate whether China or India gets the upper hand in the battle for influence in a nation rich in hydropower and home to Mount Everest. Nepal emerged from a civil war in 2006 and abolished its 239-year-old monarchy two years later. Guna Raj Luintel, editor of the daily Nagarik, said it was almost certain the leftist alliance would win. “Trends so far suggest they could win a two-thirds majority. If that happened, that will be a landslide win,” Luintel said. There are 165 seats to be decided on a first-past-the-post basis for which voting was held on Thursday with another 110 seats decided by proportional representation. Few results are in from the southern plains, home to nearly half of the population, and communists are thought to have weaker support there. Final results of the election, Nepal’s first under its republican constitution approved by a special Constituent Assembly in 2015, could take around 10 days due to cumbersome counting procedures. An army soldier stands guard in front of the city hall, where election commission officials are counting parliamentary votes in Kathmandu yesterday.

A leftist alliance between Nepal’s former Maoist rebels and moderate communists appeared to be heading for a victory in elections aimed at completing a transition to democracy after the abolition of the monarchy and end to civil war. Early tallies from Thursday’s vote show the leftists lead in 63 out of 80 constituencies where counting has begun. Nepal has seen 10 government changes in as many years. Instability has given rise to corruption, retarded growth and slowed recovery from a 2015 earthquake that killed 9,000 people. The election pits the centrist Nepali Congress party of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who heads a loose alliance that includes the Madhesi parties from Nepal's southern plains and former royalists, against the tight-knit alliance of former Maoists and the moderate Communist UML party. The Nepali Congress party is considered a pro-India group, while the opposition alliance is seen as closer to China. Nepal is a natural buffer between the two and the outcome could indicate whether China or India gets the upper hand in the battle for influence in a nation rich in hydropower and home to Mount Everest. Nepal emerged from a civil war in 2006 and abolished its 239-year-old Hindu monarchy two years later. Guna Raj Luintel, editor of the daily Nagarik, said it was almost certain the leftist alliance would win. "Trends so far suggest they could win a two-thirds majority. If that happened, that will be a landslide win,” Luintel said. There are 165 seats to be decided on a first-past-the-post basis for which voting was held on Thursday with another 110 seats decided by proportional representation. Few results are in from the southern plains, home to nearly half of the population, and communists are thought to have weaker support there. Final results of the election, Nepal’s first under its republican constitution approved by a special Constituent Assembly in 2015, could take around 10 days due to cumbersome counting procedures.

Left alliance parties have taken a two-thirds lead in the initial counting of votes in Nepal’s first election to provincial and federal assemblies, Election Commission data showed. Nepal conducted the final round of elections to the federal and seven provincial assemblies on Thursday and the counting of votes is underway across the country. The early results and trends came as a shock to the ruling Nepali Congress and many of its heavyweight candidates feared losing in the polls. The Left alliance, which was reportedly cobbled together in October, is likely to dominate power equations in future. In Province Number 2 that is located close to the border with India, Madhesi parties took the lead in initial counts. If the alliance of the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre bags a majority of the seats in the assemblies, Nepal will have communists in key posts such as the president, prime minister and speaker of parliament. These were the first elections to the federal and provincial assemblies after the promulgation of a new constitution in 2015, marking the culmination of a decade-long democratic transition after the abolition of monarchy. Reports from across the country suggested the leftist alliance was dominating in results and trends. Out of results declared till yesterday evening, the CPN-UML had won five seats in the federal assembly and seven in the provincial assemblies. The CPN-Maoist Centre won one seat in the federal assembly and four seats in provincial assemblies. The Left parties were leading in 67 seats in the federal assembly and 75 seats in the provincial assemblies. The Nepali Congress was ahead in only 11 seats in the federal assembly and 10 in the provincial assemblies. The Nepali Congress had won just three seats in the provincial assemblies.  The sweeping lead of the Left alliance poses a serious challenge to the political future of the Nepali Congress.  The complete election results are likely to be out after a week as polling was held for a mixed electoral system. Besides the first-past-the-post system, 110 members of parliament will be elected under a proportional representation system to represent various communities.  A total of 220 representatives will also be elected to the provincial assemblies under the proportional representation system. Election Commission workers rearrange the ballot papers in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal has just concluded historic parliamentary elections aimed at drawing a line under years of conflict and political turmoil in the Himalayan country.

Polls opened in Nepal's capital Kathmandu and the country's southern plains on Thursday, marking the second round of voting for the national parliament and provincial assemblies since a new constitution took effect two years ago. The polls are a major step toward implementing the new constitution, which aims to empower marginalised communities, including women and Dalits - members of the so-called untouchable caste - by ensuring greater representation in state institutions. The landmark polls cap the country's transformation from a Hindu monarchy to a secular republic, following a 10-year Maoist insurgency that left more than 16,000 people dead. Years of political instability have stymied economic growth in the impoverished nation, which in recent years has suffered from natural disasters including a destructive earthquake and floods. A majority of more than 12.2 million voters are expected to cast their ballots in 45 districts in the country's middle hills and its southern plains which border India. Long queues of voters snaked through a roadside polling centre in Balkot neighbourhood on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Govinda Paudel, a 62-year-old pensioner who had just voted, hoped the polls would lead toward political stability and economic growth. "They gave us the constitution. Now we want them to deliver peace and development. We have voted for them many times before, but this time there's a reason to be optimistic," he said as he joined fellow voters in the morning sun. Fears of violence were raised ahead of the polls opening by a preceding series of explosions targeting candidates. On Monday, a former health minister and a candidate for the ruling party were among 10 people wounded in a roadside explosion on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Police have arrested more than 800 people from the Communist Party of Nepal, a splinter Maoist group, though the outfit hasn't claimed responsibility for the attacks. Nepal's interior ministry has installed a three-tier security setup, deploying tens of thousands of officers to guard some 15000 polling centres. Nepal was prompted by security concerns to seal its southern border with India during the elections. It has also banned traffic from roads to prevent vote-rigging. A close race between the ruling Nepali Congress and an alliance of the Unified Marxist-Leninists (UML) with the Maoists was expected in the polls. A total of 275 seats in the new federal parliament and 550 seats in seven provincial assemblies were up for grabs across the country. The country's mountainous districts had earlier voted in the first phase of polls on November 26. 

Police stand guard at a polling station on the eve of the second round of general election voting in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal is gearing up for the second phase of its first national elections under the new constitution, introduced as part of the peace deal that ended the country’s brutal Maoist insurgency, cementing its transformation from a monarchy to a secular federal state.

Nepal’s prime minister is confident his party will win a general election being held this month - because his astrologer told him. In deeply superstitious Nepal, astrologers hold enormous sway in political circles and the seers have been busy ahead of a general election that could herald change after more than two decades of turbulence in the Himalayan nation. Leaders regularly consult the stars for guidance on a range of matters from the most auspicious moment to hold elections to the challenge posed by a rival, anything that might give them an edge in this hotly-contested poll. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been in regular contact with his fortune teller ahead of the historic vote, the final step of a drawn-out peace process which began in 2006 with the close end of bloody civil war. Deuba was told he would be prime minister seven times - he is currently on his fourth term - and boldly claimed his party would win in response to taunts from opposition leader K P Oli. But Deuba’s Nepali Congress faces a tough challenge in the polls from Oli’s Communist CNP-UML party, which has formed an alliance with the main Maoist party that will be tough to beat. Deuba’s astrologer, Angiras Neupane, said that according to Deuba’s birth chart - calculated on the date, time and location of his birth - he would serve at least one more term in top  office. But he said that it wouldn’t necessarily be the next one.  He predicted that Oli would in fact be the next prime minister but that his coalition would quickly crumble, allowing  Deuba to retake the reins. “There will be instability in the country yet again,” Neupane said at his home in a village on the edge of Kathmandu. That is hardly welcome news in Nepal, which has endured a tumultuous transition from monarchy to democracy. In the last 27 years, Nepal has had 26 prime ministers, suffered a brutal Maoist insurgency and ousted an unpopular monarchy. There was also a devastating earthquake in 2015. It is not only in Nepal where politicians are gripped by seers.  In Sri Lanka, former president Mahinda Rajapakse lavished his astrologer with a house, limousine and chauffeur - until he counselled the strongman to hold the snap election that ended his decade-long hold on power. Nepal’s Deuba has a reputation for being particularly superstitious - even delaying his move into the prime minister’s house at the start of his latest term in June on the advice of  his seer. But politicians from all sides consult the stars. “It is not mandatory for politicians to visit fortune tellers, but every politician does because they want luck to be on their side for every step that they make in their career,” said Raghu Karki, a member of the NC’s student wing. “Even the Marxist politicians believe in astrology.” Other politicians contacted by AFP were reluctant to discuss their luck however. “All kinds of people visit fortune tellers. Common as well as high profile people visit and take my advice. But they don’t want to disclose they’ve visited an astrologer for fear of being thought of as weak,” said fortune teller Ojraj Lohani, who used to  advise Deuba. Lohani also said Deuba’s astrological chart indicated he would be prime minister once more. Election officers sort out voter identity cards ahead of the upcoming elections in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal is gearing up for the second phase of its first national elections under the new constitution on December 7.

A powerful bomb blast at a poll rally of the ruling Nepali Congress yesterday injured 11 people, including  former health minister and election candidate in Kathmandu, police said, days ahead of the last phase of provincial and parliamentary polls.  The police said that 30 suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident which occurred at Chapali area in Budhanilakantha municipality, 10km north of Kathmandu. The injured, including Nepali Congress candidate Gagan Thapa, were rushed to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Thapa, a former health minister who is contesting election from the Kathmandu constituency number 4, has been discharged from the hospital. The condition of one of the injured people is said to be critical. Election campaign for Thursday’s second phase of parliamentary and provincial elections will end at midnight today. The blast occurred three days before the second phase of the provincial and parliamentary elections on December 7. Around 65% votes were cast on November 26 in the historic first round of elections that many hope will bring the much-needed political stability to the Himalayan nation. Of the total 15.4mn voters, 3.19mn were eligible to cast their votes in the first phase while the rest will exercise their franchise during the second phase. The elections are being seen as the final step in Nepal’s transition to a federal democracy following a decade-long civil war till 2006 that claimed more  than 16,000 lives. Poll workers collect ballot boxes and other materials for the upcoming elections in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal is gearing up for the second phase of its first national elections under the new constitution on December 7.

With the objective of conducting peaceful and fair elections, Nepal has beefed up security along the borders with India. As there is less than a week left for the parliamentary and provincial elections slated for December 7, security forces have remained highly alert in various parts of the border district Dang. A joint security team of Nepal and India have started monitoring the activities in the border areas. As per the analysis of the security personnel, movement of arms and ammunition in border has been seen as a major  challenge. A special committee of the Nepali and Indian security forces was formed before the first phase of elections to ensure security in the border areas. The same committee will be working in the second phase of election as well. There are altogether 31 customs points in Dang adjoining the Indian border. “These customs points are considered highly sensitive especially during elections,” Armed Police Force (APF) official Ishwor D C, chief of Koilabas barracks of the paramilitary force, said, adding, “We are making every possible effort to avoid any kind of untoward incident which may  disrupt the polls.”  He informed that the security personnel are adopting special strategies to control criminal activities in the border areas.  People travelling through the border will have to go through strict checking until the elections are over. The APF is running a search operation in each customs point. “We have deployed our security personnel in each customs point and are hopeful that the elections will be peaceful,” he said. Security forces are also working round the clock to curb criminal activities in the border areas.  The Dang district shares 83km of border with India and most of the areas are not accessible by road. Except for Koilabas, no other border point in Dang has road access. This has also been a major threat to security in the area. As in the past elections, borders will be sealed from December 4 and will be opened only after elections. The ongoing election campaign has been rocked by over a hundred small and large explosions countrywide. A blast near the venue of a public meeting being addressed by Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday became the latest terrorist incident. Bombs have earlier gone off close to campaign meetings of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Dang district of western Nepal, and that of K P Oli, the prime ministerial candidate of the Left Alliance, in the capital Kathmandu, sending waves of fear and panic sweeping across the country. The first phase of polling to elect a federal and seven provincial assemblies under the 2015 constitution took place on November 26. A turnout of 65% was recorded as votes were cast for 37 parliamentary and 74 provincial legislature seats. The second, and final, round of voting is scheduled for December 7. Security personnel guard at a polling station in Nuwakot, 74km from Kathmandu.

A candidate of Nepal’s ruling party suffered injuries yesterday when a landmine triggered by protesters hit his vehicle as he headed to an election rally, an official said. Narayan Bahadur Karki, of the Nepali Congress party, was in a jeep on his way to address an election rally at a village in Udayapur district in the country’s southeast when he came under attack, said Chandra Man Shreshtha, the district’s chief administrator. He said the driver and two supporters were also wounded in the blast, and the jeep was  damaged. “All of them have injuries on their hands and legs,” he said. Karki has been airlifted to the capital Kathmandu for medical treatment. Yesterday, police arrested 50 members of Communist Party of Nepal, a splinter Maoist group, in Jhapa district after a crude bomb went off at the compound of a Nepali Congress candidate. Police have already arrested more than 500 of the party’s members. The radical group has vowed to disrupt the polls as part of its protests against the new  constitution. On Sunday, Nepal held phase one of its first general elections under the constitution, enacted in September 2015. While Sunday’s polls were largely peaceful, several areas in the country saw violence in the run up to the vote. The second round - in the capital Kathmandu and the low-lying areas in the south - is due to take place on December 7.

Nepalese officials have identified three potential infrastructure projects to be implemented with the assistance of China.  The projects discussed by officials yesterday include a cross-border railway project connecting Chinese bordering town Kerung with Nepalese capital Kathmandu, electricity transmission line connecting Kerung with Nepalese Dhading district, a neighbouring district of Kathmandu and the Sunsari-Marin diversion irrigation project in eastern Nepal, according to a statement of  Nepal’s finance ministry.  During a meeting of the project development and facilitation committee to implement the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Nepal and China, officials from ministries including finance, physical infrastructure and transport, energy, irrigation, urban development, agriculture and tourism discussed these projects.  “Although we have identified these as potential projects to be implemented with the Chinese assistance, we have not finalised them yet,” Yugraj Pandey, undersecretary at Nepal’s ministry  of finance, told Xinhua.  At the meeting, finance secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari urged officials from other ministries to submit the potential projects which are ready for implementation within the next five days.  “A consensus reached among the officials is that the finance ministry will propose the projects to the Chinese government based on national priority and necessity of the country,” the ministry said in the  statement.  Also at the meeting, economic adviser to Nepal prime minister Gyan Chandra Acharya urged the ministries to propose projects that could promote connectivity with productivity so as to reap as much as benefit from the projects.  A cabinet meeting of the Nepal government on August 15 also asked the energy ministry to seek the Chinese support to build reservoir projects and transmission lines.

Nepalis across the country’s mountainous north voted yesterday in elections that could herald change after 20 ruinous years marked by a bloody Maoist insurgency, a devastating earthquake and crippling political instability. The historic vote marks the final step of a drawn-out peace process, which began in 2006 with the end of the civil war between the Maoists and the state. More than 2mn people – around 65% of eligible voters – cast their ballot for representatives in new national and  provincial parliaments. The two-phase elections will establish the country’s first provincial assemblies as laid out in a post-war constitution that aims to devolve power from the top-heavy central governments to seven newly created provinces. Nepal’s tumultuous transition from monarchy to democracy has been marred by crippling instability that has seen 10 leaders hold power in 11 years – some of them more than once – hampering development and recovery from the earthquake that  struck in 2015. The areas that were worst hit by the quake, which killed 9,000 and destroyed half a million homes, voted yesterday, with many expressing hope that sluggish reconstruction would be kickstarted by the political change. “I hope to see more development and better services in our district,” said first-time voter Shanta Bhujel, 18, who cast his ballot in Chautara, a town east  of the capital Kathmandu. Polling station officials in Balephi, a small town in northern Sindhupalchowk district, sealed the plastic ballot boxes as the polls closed at 5pm (11.15 GMT) and loaded them into a truck to be transported to the district capital for storage.  Counting will only begin after the second phase of elections is held in the populous south on December 7, with results  expected a few days later. Elections were suspended and will be held again at two polling stations in the western district of Rukum after acid was sprinkled on ballot boxes and damaged the papers inside, said local official Bansi Kumar Acharya. Meanwhile, voting was temporarily halted in another polling centre in the northeast after an explosive device was found. No injuries were reported.  Sporadic violence injured dozens in the lead-up to the polls, mostly blamed on a splinter faction of the Maoist Party. The faction pledged to disrupt the election. Many in the impoverished Himalayan nation walked for hours to reach their nearest polling station, while in the remote west voters also braved sub-zero temperatures and snow. But nothing stopped a 114-year-old woman from casting her ballot in the western  district of Baitadi. The new constitution, finally approved in 2015, mandates a sweeping overhaul of the political system, which should limit the impact of the horse-trading in Kathmandu on much-needed development in the rest of the country. Rules under the new charter allocate a proportion of seats in the federal and provincial assemblies to women and people from indigenous communities and the lowest Dalit caste. The rules will also weed out some fringe parties from the parliaments and raise the bar for ousting a prime minister, leading to hopes that the next government could be the first to last a full five-year term. “Our vote this time is in the hope that next time vote the country is in a better condition,” said hotel owner Bhakta Lal Shrestha after casting his ballot in Balephi just before polling closed. However, analysts warn that the impact of the changes could be limited, with the three parties that have dominated the political stage since the end of the conflict expected to take the lion’s share of seats. The Maoist Party of the former rebels has formed an electoral alliance with the communist CNP-UML, fielding candidates jointly in key races. The powerful bloc has left the ruling party, the centrist Nepali Congress, on the back foot and forced to look to smaller parties in a bid to remain in power. “Since there is no real ideological difference between the two alliances any more, what we need for stable politics is a majority government with a strong opposition to keep it in check,” the English-language Nepali Times wrote in an editorial yesterday. “At this moment, that is the best we can hope for.”

A major explosion hit China's megaport city of Ningbo on Sunday, killing at least two people, injuring dozens and wrecking buildings, state media and local authorities said. The Ningbo government said on a social media account that the blast occurred in a ‘vacant lot’ but it did not provide details about what may have caused it. Local authorities said two people died, two were seriously injured and an unidentified number were being treated for injuries in the major port city. State media said more than 30 people were hospitalised, with the Xinhua news agency reporting that the explosion had taken place in a demolished factory at around 9:00 am (0100 GMT). Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often lax. Television images showed cars twisted and mangled by the force of the explosion, a plume of grey smoke rising in the sky, and debris scattered for dozens of metres (yards) around the site of the incident. Aerial images posted by the People's Daily on Twitter showed at least four wrecked buildings around a wasteland of concrete debris. Footage showed rescuers wearing helmets carrying injured people away from the area, while others stood over a person lying on the ground. Pieces of concrete, wood and glass were strewn across a large area. Metal gates were twisted open and windows blown out of buildings. According to CCTV, eyewitnesses said there were ‘a large number of injured people’ in the city, one of China's largest ports, which sits just south of Shanghai. The Communist Party's People's Daily said on Twitter that no one lived at site of the explosion but garbage collectors might have been working there. An enquiry has been launched to determine the cause of the explosion, the local police in Jiangbei district, where the blast happened, said on social media. Ningbo is one of the country's major international container shipping ports. - Past disasters - China has been rocked by several industrial accidents in recent years. In 2015, giant blasts killed at least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin, causing over $1 billion in damage and sparking widespread anger over a perceived lack of transparency by officials about the accident's causes and its environmental impact. A government enquiry into the Tianjin accident released in February 2016 recommended 123 people be punished. The official who was mayor at the time of the accident was sentenced to 12 years in prison for graft in September. Huang Xingguo, 62, had also headed the disaster response committee.

Millions of Nepalis headed to the polls Sunday for a historic election billed as a turning point for the impoverished Himalayan nation, hoping to end the ruinous instability that has plagued the country since the end of a bloody civil war a decade ago. The two-phase elections for national and provincial parliaments are the first under a new post-war constitution born out of a peace deal that ended the 10-year Maoist insurgency in 2006 and set the country on a path from monarchy to democracy. It took nine years after the end of the conflict for the new charter to be agreed as a series of brittle coalition governments bickered over the country's future as a federal democratic state. Many hope that the elections, which will establish the country's first provincial assemblies, will bring an end to political turbulence and limit the impact of the horse-trading in Kathmandu on much needed development in the rest of the country. Lines outside polling stations started to form early in Chautara, a town east of Kathmandu, as voters, wrapped up warm against the brisk mountain air, gathered to cast their ballots. ‘Because the government changes every nine months, development work has not been able to continue. Our wish is for a stable government,’ said Santosh Kumar Shrestha, who had returned home to Chautara to vote. Around 3.2 million people across the north of the country, including areas badly hit by a devastating earthquake two years ago, are eligible to vote in Sunday's first phase. The more populous south will vote in 10 days time. Many voters from remote villages nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas had to walk for hours to reach their nearest polling station, with some making the long journey the day before. In western Baitadi district, a 114-year-old woman made the journey to cast her vote, said local official Deepak Kumar Acharya. Meanwhile, the ballot boxes at a polling station in Humla, one of the country's least developed districts, were still empty late morning. ‘People are yet to arrive to cast their vote due to the extreme cold,’ district chief Laxmi Prasad Baskota told AFP. - Three dominant parties - Nepal's new constitution, finally passed in 2015, lays out a sweeping overhaul of the political system and aims to devolve power away from the central government to seven newly created provinces. Rules laid out in the new charter will weed out some fringe parties from the parliaments and raises the bar for ousting a prime minister, leading to hopes that the next government could be the first to last a full five year term. Nepal has cycled through 10 leaders in the last 11 years and corruption has flourished, hampering growth as well as the recovery from the 2015 earthquake that destroyed half a million homes. However, analysts warn that the impact of the changes could be limited, with the three parties that have dominated the political stage since the end of the conflict expected to take the lion's share of seats. That sentiment was echoed by some voters. ‘I don't think things will change much. It is the same people and same parties and they will continue to do as they used to,’ said 26-year-old Smita Shrestha after casting her ballot. The Maoist Party of the former rebels has formed an electoral alliance with the communist CNP-UML, fielding candidates jointly in key races. The powerful bloc has left the ruling party, the centrist Nepali Congress, on the back foot, forced to look to smaller parties in a bid to remain in power. The Maoist insurgency and the drawn-out peace process that followed it were intended to create a more equal society. But the political instability and endemic corruption have undermined that goal. Under the new constitution a proportion of seats in the federal and provincial assemblies are allocated to women and people from indigenous communities and the lowest Dalit caste. Nepal's borders with India and China were closed ahead of the vote and thousands of security forces have been deployed at polling stations. There has been sporadic violence in the lead up to the polls mostly blamed on a splinter faction of the Maoist Party, which has left dozens injured. Results are expected a few days after the second vote on December 7.

Nepal tomorrow votes in historic elections for new national and provincial assemblies that many hope will bring much-needed stability to the desperately poor country, which has cycled through 10 leaders in the last 11 years. The elections are the first under a new post-war constitution that paved the way for a sweeping overhaul of the political system intended to devolve power away from a top-heavy central government to seven newly  created provinces. The constitution, adopted in 2015, is aimed at cementing Nepal’s transformation from a feudal monarchy to a federal democratic state and giving historically marginalised groups greater access to power. It followed a 10-year civil war between Maoist insurgents and the state that led to the downfall of a deeply unpopular monarch, but also ushered in a long period of political instability that has  hampered development. “It really signals the end of a post conflict transition that was so elongated that we forgot where we were heading,” said George Varughese of Asia Foundation think tank. “These elections remind us that we are heading towards stability.” The vote will be carried out in two phases and most seats are expected to go to the three parties that have dominated the political stage for the last decade, regularly swapping power in a series of short-lived  coalitions. But some hope the devolution of power to the provinces will diminish their influence and alleviate the political impact of frequent changes of  government. “There is the chance, that although the musical chairs will continue, the effect it will have on national progress will be  reduced,” said Varughese. The Maoist Party, formed by the ex-guerrillas after the war ended in 2006, has entered an electoral alliance with the communist CNP-UML party, creating a political behemoth that will be tough to beat. That has left the ruling party, the centrist Nepali Congress, struggling to form links with smaller parties in a bid to  remain in power. Both have focused their election promises on the economic growth desperately needed in the landlocked country of 29mn, which suffered a devastating  earthquake in 2015. Nepal has one of the slowest growth rates in South Asia and relies for more than a third of its GDP on the remittances from its huge overseas workforce.  Last year nearly 400,000 Nepalis left the country for work, mostly on construction sites in the Gulf and Malaysia. The Communist alliance has pledged to increase per capita GDP from $760 to $5,000 in 10 years – a feat that would require annual growth of over 20% – while the Nepali Congress promised to create up to 500,000 jobs a year. Few see those promises as  realistic, however. “The election declarations of the main parties would be hilarious if they were not proof of hallucination,” read a recent editorial in the Nepali Times newspaper. In recent years Kathmandu has played diplomatic ping-pong with its two large neighbours, India and China, who use big-ticket infrastructure projects to vie for influence. India has traditionally played the role of big brother to its small Himalayan neighbour, but a more nationalistic government led by the CPN-UML from 2015 to 2016 aggressively courted Beijing and Kathmandu-Delhi relations reached a nadir. Relations have since improved and observers say that, if elected, the communist alliance will likely take a softer line on India. Nepal began its rocky transition from a monarchy to a federal democracy a decade ago with a peace deal that ended the brutal civil war, which had claimed the lives of at least 17,000 people. The Maoist insurgency and the drawn-out peace process that followed were intended to create a more equal society in Nepal, but political instability and endemic  corruption has undermined that goal. A proportion of the 275 seats in the new national parliament will be allocated to women and people from indigenous communities  and the lowest Dalit caste. But political analyst C K Lal says the inequalities that sparked the insurgency persist. “The aspirations of the different ethnic communities: they were not addressed. Secondly, a massive inclusion programme to address inequalities that exist in government mechanisms: it stands where it was,” Lal said. “Third was economic transformation to decrease inequalities, if not remove (them) altogether, that has not taken place.” More than 300,000 members of the security forces will be deployed for the two-stage election, with northern provinces voting tomorrow and southern areas and Kathmandu going to the polls on December 7. Results are expected a few days after the second vote.

* PM Deuba says election sets path to stability, prosperity * Election to determine Nepal's China-India ties * Chinese investments hangs in the balance * Opposition communists, ex-guerrillas alliance pro-China Nepalis vote on Sunday to choose a new parliament and seven state assemblies hoping to end years of fickle coalitions and complete a tumultuous transition, more than a decade after the end of a civil war. The two-phase election is also expected to determine the path the country takes in balancing ties with China and India, both of whom are pushing hard to expand influence in the buffer state. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's centrist Nepali Congress party faces a tight battle against a left alliance between the main group of Maoist former rebels and the opposition Communist UML party. About 15.4 million eligible voters are tasked to pick a 275-member parliament - 165 through first-past-the-post and 110 through proportional representation - the first under a new constitution agreed after years of wrangling. Simultaneously, voters will choose representatives to seven provincial assemblies for the first time after Nepal turned into a federal republic and abolished monarchy in 2008. "These elections will … firmly put the country on the path of stability and prosperity,” Deuba, the country's tenth prime minister in as many years, told Reuters. Counting of votes will begin after the second round of polling on December 7 and complete results may not be known until the middle of December because of cumbersome counting procedures. Political analysts say that the left alliance is likely to open up the country further to Chinese investments if they were to come to power in the election. Already, the UML has said it would hand back the country's biggest hydro-electric project to China after the Deuba-government, seen as more pro-India, cancelled the deal citing lapses in the contract. "Our government will revoke the decision after the election," UML general secretary Ishwar Pokharel said, adding there was nothing wrong in the $2.5 billion deal with China Gezhouba Group Corporation to build a 1,200 megawatt plant. Soon after the cancellation of the deal, the chairman of Indian state-run power company NHPC Ltd said it could bid for the project, underlining Delhi's attempts to claw back ground in a country which it has long considered its backyard. "The performance of the two largest communist parties in the elections could determine the course of Chinese investment in infrastructure projects in Nepal," said Guna Raj Luintel, editor of the Nagarik daily. Ethnic minorities In March, Nepal received letters of intent worth $8.4bn from Chinese investors compared with $300mn received from Indian delegates at an investment summit, officials said. Deuba's Nepali Congress has struck a loose-knit alliance with ethnic Madhesi minority groups who live in the southern plains and have long complained of being sidelined by the Kathmandu-based main political parties. Madhesis account for one third of Nepal's 28 million people and Deuba has promised to amend the constitution to address their grievances if the alliance won the election. Aid and tourism dependent Nepal, recovering from a devastating earthquake that killed 9,000 people in 2015, is among the world's poorest. The economy, which saw zero growth last year due to instability and the earthquake, is expected to expand by 6.9% this year because of improved power supply and agricultural production, officials said.