Kathmandu, May 13
Nepal voted for most of the 753 local governments as a part of its nationwide local elections held after five years, on Friday.
Elections in a few local units, however, have been cancelled and rescheduled for the next dates owing to cases of violence.
The Election Commission says preliminary estimates suggest that 64 per cent of the voters used their voting rights. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya says the estimate did not meet his expectation.
In particular, the local units with higher numbers of voters did not record expected turnouts, he complains.
The constitutional body had registered 17.73 million voters for the local elections this time.
The commission says the vote count will begin tonight itself in a few local units whereas others will begin the count on Saturday. The commission plans to publish the results of all the units within one week.
The poll body has cancelled elections at 77 voting centres in 28 local units of 16 districts including those in Guthichaur of Jumla, Panchkhal of Kavre, Khandadevi of Ramechhap, Phatuwa Bijayapur of Rautahat, and Dakneshwari of Saptari. The commission will conduct voting at these places within one week.
(Updated)
