Election of president, vice president concludes in Nepal
19 Jul 2008, 1839 Hrs

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Kathmandu, July 19 (ANI): The federal democratic republic of Nepal is all set to elect its first president and vice president with vote counting reaching its final stage.

Earlier today, the Constituent Assembly (CA) members cast their votes to choose Nepal's new president and vice-president.

Of the total 594 voters registered, 578 Constituent Assembly members cast their ballots while 16 Constituent Assembly members stayed away from the voting centre.

According to Kantipur, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, National People's Front Nepal and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party boycotted the election.

Voting began at around 11:15 am at the International Convention Centre in Kathmandu and concluded at 2:30pm.

Maoist candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh, Nepali Congress (NC)'s Dr Ram Baran Yadav and Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML's) Ram Prit Paswan are vying to be Nepal's first president.

Likewise, Maoist's Shanta Shrestha, Nepali Congress' Maan Bahadur Bishwakarma, UML's Asta Laxmi Shakya and MPRF's Parmananda Jha are the candidates for the vice-presidential post.

Voting was delayed for some time as new alliances were forged among the parties at the eleventh-hour.

The Election Commission had extended the voting period till 2.30pm. It had earlier fixed the time from 11am to 2pm today.

If no candidate is able to secure a majority, that is 298 votes, a re-election will be carried out between the two candidates securing the highest votes.

The Constituent Assembly will fix a new date for re-election if such a situation arises. (ANI)