Nepal: Ram Chandra Paudel was elected as the new president of Nepal on Thursday. 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.
Poudel, a common candidate of the eight-party alliance that included Nepali Congress and Prime Minister 'Prachanda'-led CPN (Maoist Center), received the vote of 214 lawmakers of parliament and 352 provincial assembly members. With the support from eight political parties, 78-year-old Poudel's victory was certain. His rival Subas Chandra Nebmang had support of former prime minister KP Sharma-led CPN-UML.
This is the third presidential election in Nepal since the country became a republic in 2008. The tenure of the current president, Bidya Devi Bhandari, will end on March 12.
Who is Ram Chandra Paudel?
Born on October 14, 1944 in Bahunpokhari in a middle-class farmers' family, Poudel joined politics at the age of 16. He became the founding central member of Nepal Students' Union, the student wing of Nepali Congress, in 1970.
Poudel was appointed Vice president of the Nepali Congress (banned) Tanhu district committee in 1980. He was elevated to the party's central working committee in 1987 and headed its publicity committee. He became General Secretary in 2005, Vice President in 2007 and acting president of the party in 2015.
He played an active role in Satyagraha of 1985, People's Movement part I of 1990 and People's Movement part II of 2006. He spent 12 years in jail fighting against the autocratic Panchayat regime. Poudel was elected to the House of Representatives from Tanhu district for the first time in 1991. Thereafter, he was continuously elected from Tanhu for six consecutive terms.
He was appointed Minister for Local Development in May 1991 and became Agriculture Minister in 1992. Poudel served as Speaker from December 1994 to March 1999. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home and Minister for Information and Communication from 1999 to 2002. Poudel served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction from 2007 to 2008. He was elected Parliamentary Party leader of Nepali Congress and leader of the main Opposition in Parliament from 2008 to 2013.
He was honoured with the 'Order of the Rising Sun' award from the Government of Japan in 2020. He has authored over a dozen books mainly about democracy, socialism and agriculture. He has also written dozens of articles in different newspapers and served as a journalist for a brief period. Poudel has received Masters’ Degree in Arts with Nepali language as major subject and has also completed Shastri or Bachelors’ Degree in Sanskrit. He is married to Sabita Poudel and they have four daughters and a son.
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