Nepal’s Constituent Assembly Elects First President

Veteran leader Ram Baran Yadav, who was supported by the centrist Nepali Congress party, had won 308 votes in the run off presidential election, held after the first round on Saturday failed to produce any clear winner. The candidate supported by the Maoists, Ramraja Prasad Singh, managed to win only 282 votes. The election of the President is considered as a yet another key step for the country, which abolished the centuries old Hindu monarchy in May.