High hopes in Nepal for first local polls in 20 yrs

Nepal holds its first local elections in two decades today hoping to cement a fraught transition to democracy and fill an institutional void that has seen corruption flourish.

The last local representatives were elected in 1997 and their mandates lapsed after their five-year terms expired at the height of the brutal Maoist insurgency.

After a 2006 peace deal ended a conflict in which 16,000 people died, the impoverished Himalayan nation began a rocky transition from a Hindu monarchy to a secular federal republic, which has seen the country go through nine governments.

In the vacuum left at the local level, graft has become a way of life. Nepal is ranked one of the most corrupt countries in South Asia.

Many of the nearly 50,000 people vying for 13,556 seats in Sunday's polls are shunning the main political parties to run as independents or as candidates for new reformist parties.

"It couldn't get any worse. The gap between society and government couldn't get any wider," George Varughese, Nepal representative for the Asia Foundation think-tank, told AFP.

Varughese said the elections could "undermine the current political dominance of the main three parties."

Under a new 2015 constitution, local elections followed by provincial and national elections have to be held by January 2018 -- the final step in the drawn-out peace process.

Polls open at 7:00am (0115 GMT) today in three provinces, with 283 local municipalities voting for candidates for seven positions.

The vote has been split into two phases because of the threat of unrest in the southern plains bordering India. The remaining four provinces will vote on June 14.