Bidhya Devi Bhandari elected Nepal's first female president
Nepal's parliament has elected women's rights campaigner Bidhya Devi Bhandari as its first female president, in a move hailed as a milestone. The 54-year-old is also currently the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).
Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Nepal's first female president
Ms Bhandari is a close ally of the new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, who was elected by parliament earlier in October 2015 – both are from the same nominally communist party. She has long been a political activist in a male-dominated society and was the country’s defence minister from 2009 to 2011. She was elected to parliament after her politician husband was killed in a mysterious car crash.
Communist Party of Nepal UML building in Balkhu, Kathmandu, Nepal
As president, she has promised to champion minority and women's rights in Nepal. However, some have questioned her feminist credentials, as she supports citizenship laws which her critics say are anti-women. Yet she helped ensure a one-third quota for women in parliament.
Janaki Mandir, one of the famous temples of Janakpur, Nepal
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. She replaces Ram Baran Yadav, who was the country's first elected president in 2008 after Nepal abolished its monarchy.
Former royal palace at Basantapur, Kathmandu
Her election comes shortly after Nepal put in place its new constitution in September aimed at stabilising the country, but which ended up sparking deadly violence, killing at least 40 people. While the new constitution has defined the majority Hindu nation as a secular republic divided into seven federal provinces, the ethnic groups in southern Nepal are fighting for more territory and rights for ethnic federal states.
Hindu temples in Patan, capital of one of the three medieval Newar kingdoms
(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
