Nepal vote counting begins after high poll turnout

KATHMANDU, Nov 20, 2013 (AFP) - Nepalese officials began counting votes Wednesday, with local media hailing the high turnout in polls seen as vital in cementing a peace process seven years since the end of a civil war.

Millions of Nepalis cast their ballots on Tuesday for a constituent assembly tasked with writing a new constitution, defying threats of poll violence by a breakaway faction of the Maoist party.

"The vote counting has begun," Election Commission spokesman Bir Bahadur Rai told AFP.

Election officials say preliminary results are likely to emerge within three days, with full results expected in about ten days.

Local press praised the turnout, which the commission pegged at 70 percent, as a "terrific start" to the political process ahead, and raising hopes of stability in the tiny, impoverished Himalayan nation.

"Election peaceful, outstanding voting," exulted the Nepali-language Rajdhani Daily in its front-page headline.

Preliminary figures show a higher turnout than the 63.29 percent registered in the country's first post-war elections in 2008, when former Maoist rebels entered politics and swept the polls after ending a ten-year civil war.

Since then, a string of coalition governments have squabbled, split and failed to write a draft constitution, forcing the collapse of the assembly in May 2012 and leaving the country frustrated over the lack of progress.

"Whosoever wins the elections, the Nepali people have already spoken out loud and clear: that they are willing to give the unfinished task of transition yet another go," an editorial in The Kathmandu Post said.

A Himalayan Times editorial warned lawmakers that it was "time for political parties to abandon their political bickering in earnest".

"They cannot be as irresponsible as they had been earlier. The petty partisan interest must make way for broader national interests," the editorial said.

Nepal's imposing neighbour, India, which has traditionally exerted huge political influence in the nation, called the turnout "impressive" in a foreign ministry statement late Tuesday.

India, which provided logistical support to election officials, said the vote was an "important step towards realising Nepal's goal of a democratic and prosperous future".

More than 100 parties, including three major ones - the Unified Marxist-Leninist, the Nepali Congress and the Maoists - have fielded candidates for the constituent assembly, which will also serve as a parliament.