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Nepal holds elections key to peace process

High turnout as voters defy bombing, threats

AFP, Kathmandu
Millions of Nepalis defied low expectations and threats of violence to vote in elections seen as crucial in stabilising the country and breaking its political deadlock seven years after a civil war ended.
A bombing in the capital Kathmandu early yesterday injured three children, but the explosion and a campaign of intimidation by a hardline Maoist splinter group did not prevent turnout reaching at least 65 percent.
At this level it would be higher than the 63.29 percent turnout recorded during the country's first post-war elections in 2008, when it voted for a constituent assembly tasked with writi ng a new consti tution.
Since then, five prime ministers have served brief terms, the county had no leader for long periods, and the 601-member assembly collapsed in May 2012 after failing to complete the peace process.
Many analysts had judged the national mood to be downbeat as threats of violence and intimidation added to years of political infighting and drift.
I lopes of political unity to complete
May 2012 Collapse of first constituent assembly after series of coalition governments fail to draft constitution and complete the peace process
the peace process were dashed when a 33-party alliance, led by the splinter Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), announced that it would boycott polls and intimidate voters.
In Kathmandu, a crude bomb explosion planted in a middle-class residential neighbourhood was the only major violent incident amid a security crackdown which saw 50,000 soldiers and 140,000 police deployed.
The Maoist party, led by Pushpa Kamal Daha 1, known better by the nom-
de-guerre Prachanda, swept the first constituent assembly polls in 2008, two years after signing a peace deal.
Prachanda, the former rebel leader whose lavish lifestyle has alienated many core supporters, voted in the southern district of Chitwan in the morning wearing a shirt and Westernstyleblacksuit.
Organising the election has been a logistical headache in a country home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, requiring helicopters, horses and porters to deliver ballot boxes to remote areas.
Nepal's political deadlock in the last five years has had a severe impact on the economy, with annual GDP growth tumbling from 6.1 percent in 2008 to 4.6 percent last year, World Bank figures show.
With 39 percent of the country aged between 16 and 40, according to government data, jobs are a major issue for young first-time voters like Urmila Maharjan.
More than 100 parties, including three major ones—the Unified Marxist-Leninist, the Nepali Gongress and the Maoists—are fielding candidates for the constituent assembly,