The 54-year-old is now the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).
Advertisement
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday congratulated Bidhya Devi Bhandari on being elected as the first woman president of Nepal and assured all possible help to the neighbouring country. Bhandari has previously served as Nepal’s defense minister and the head of the women’s wing in her party. Bhandari had a determining role, along with others, in ensuring the reservation of a third of parliamentary seats for women in the new constitution, which also lays down that either the president or the vice president must be a woman.
The election, which took place Wednesday, makes Bhandari only the second person to hold this position since Nepal abolished its monarchy and became a republic in 2008.
“Some have questioned her feminist credentials, as she supports citizenship laws they say are anti-women”.
Noting that her election came at a critical juncture, Mukherjee exuded confidence that Nepal would move towards peace, stability and development by accommodating the aspirations of all the people under her guidance.
In the early 1980s, Bhandari toned down her activism when she married Madan Bhandari, a popular politician.
Nepal is traditionally a male-dominated society with women limited to work in homes or on farms, but the country has been trying to grant more rights for women.
She replaces Ram Baran Yadav, Nepal’s first president who was elected in 2008 to a two-year term.
Advertisement
Bidhya Bhandari has been declared the first woman President of Nepal defeating Nepali Congress veteran leader Kul Bahadur Gurung.
