Nepal's parliament Wednesday elected communist lawmaker Bidhya Bhandari as the country's first female president after the adoption of a landmark constitution last month.
Bhandari, 54, is the second woman to be elected to a senior position since the new charter, after Magar became the country's first female Speaker earlier this month. As required by the constitution, parliament this month also elected a new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, who faces the tough task of unifying the earthquake-hit country as ethnic tensions flare. The constitution, the first drawn up by elected representatives, was meant to bolster peace and ease Nepal's transformation to a democratic republic after decades of political instability and a 10-year Maoist insurgency.Bhandari was active in politics since her early age. According to the details provided by the CPN-UML, Bhandari joined politics as an activist of then Youth League of CPN (ML) in 2035 BS, from Bhojpur. Bhandari played a role as an In-charge for Eastern Zone Committee of ANNFSU from 2036 to 2044 BS. Her active political journey, however, started when she received party membership from the then CPN (ML) in 2037. After completing her school level study, Bhandari was enrolled in Mahendra Morang Adrsha Multiple Campus where she was elected as a Treasurer for Federation of Students’ Union (FSU). Also, she played a pivotal role as a chairperson of women's wing of GEFONT in 2050 BS to 2054 BS before being elected as UML central committee member in 2054 BS.
