Nepal casts ballot for change in polls post youth protests

Voting for Nepal’s general election closed on Thursday evening as the Himalayan nation gets ready to elect a new parliament nearly six months after 77 people died in a crackdown on youth-led protests and forced its then prime minister to quit.

- Reuters

Counting at most booths was likely to begin soon after polls closed at 5pm local time (1115 GMT) and early trends are likely to emerge by Friday, election commission officials said, although complete results could take a week.

At least half of Nepal's 19 million eligible voters had cast their ballot by 3pm local time (0915 GMT), the election commission said.

“We will work out the final tally of votes cast after the voting closes. As of now in most districts voters’ turnout is more than 50%,” Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, an election commission spokesperson, said.

Voting percentage in Nepal's last election in 2022 was 61%.