KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Voting began Sunday in Nepal's first local elections for two decades, a landmark moment in the country's fraught transition to democracy. With nearly 70 percent of the population aged under 35, many are electing their local representatives for the first time. The local representatives were last elected in 1997 and their five-year terms expired at the height of the brutal Maoist insurgency. The charter mandated that local elections, followed by provincial and then national elections, be held by January 2018 — the final step in the drawn-out peace process. The Madhesi threatened to boycott the local polls unless the constitution is rewritten.

Source: The China Post May 14, 2017 16:18 UTC