Nepal elects first female president

© Reuters

Nepal elects first female president - Nepal's parliament  features  elected women's rights campaigner Bidhya Devi Bhandari  In the same way   it is   initial  female president,  throughout   a  move hailed  as a  milestone.

She  is the  second  user   to  hold  ones  mainly ceremonial role.

The 54-year-old  is usually   right now   the  vice-chair  of your  ruling Communist Party  connected with  Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).

Ms Bhandari  am  defence minister  coming from  2009  to be able to  2011.  As  president, she  offers  promised  for you to  champion minority  AND  women's rights  with  Nepal.

Earlier  the actual  month, Nepal's parliament chose  its  new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli.

Bidhya Bhandari is a close ally of the new prime minister, from the same nominally communist party. She has long been a political activist in a male-dominated society.

In the pre-democracy era, she worked underground, later getting elected to parliament after her politician husband was killed in a mysterious car crash.

Some have questioned her feminist credentials, as she supports citizenship laws they say are anti-women. Yet she helped ensure a one-third quota for women in parliament.

Now, as president, she's supreme commander of the armed forces. But her largely ceremonial role will probably restrict her from indulging in too much politics.

Ms Bhandari replaces Ram Baran Yadav,  who   are   your own  country's  first  elected president  throughout  2008  following  Nepal abolished  it is  monarchy.

Her election comes shortly  soon after  Nepal put  in   area   their  new constitution  in  September aimed  from  stabilising  ones  country, but  of which  ended up sparking deadly violence, killing  at the very least  40 people.

The constitution defines  your current  majority Hindu nation  being a  secular republic divided  in to   seven  federal provinces.

But ethnic groups  with  southern Nepal want  further  territory  AND  rights  for  ethnic federal states.