KATMANDU, Nepal — Nepalis embraced the country’s return to democracy Thursday with millions voting in an election meant to secure lasting peace in a land riven by communist insurgents and an autocratic king.
Undeterred by shootings and clashes that killed two people, many voters lined up before sunrise outside polling stations across this Himalayan land. Some even broke into applause when voting began.
An estimated 60 percent of the 17.6 million voters cast ballots at 20,000 polling stations.
The election of a 601-seat Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution has been touted as the cornerstone of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist rebels, following weeks of unrest that forced Nepal’s king to cede power, which he had seized the year before.
