Nepal elects first female president

Bidhya Devi Bhandari of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist waves her hand after she was elected as Nepal’s new president in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Bhandari, 54, who has long campaigned for women’s rights was elected Wednesday as Nepal’s first female president. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Nepal’s parliament, on Wednesday, elected communist lawmaker Bidhya Bhandari as the country’s first female president after the adoption of a landmark constitution last month.

The former defense minister and the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) defeated her opponent Kul Bahadur Gurung by 327 to 214 votes to become the Himalayan nation’s ceremonial head of state, replacing Ram Baran Yadav who was elected as the country’s first president in 2008 following the abolition of a 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.

“I announce that Bidhya Devi Bhandari has been elected to the post of Nepal’s president,” said Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar, to loud cheers from parliamentarians.

A large number of supporters waited for Bhandari outside parliament, applauding as she thanked lawmakers for electing her.

“I will do my best to protect the constitution and work for the country’s development and prosperity,” she told reporters.

Bhandari, a rare female face in Nepal’s parliament, took up politics in her teens, seeking to overturn the absolute monarchy and later marrying a fellow communist, Madan Bhandari.

Bhandari served as defense minister from 2009 to 2011. She was hailed by campaigners for her strong stance in favor of increasing female representation in parliament to 33 per cent.

But she earned the anger of rights activists when she supported a provision in the new charter that bars Nepali single mothers and women married to foreigners from passing on citizenship to their children.

Bhandari, 54, became the second woman to be elected to a senior position since the new charter, after Magar became the country’s first female Speaker earlier this month.