Today is election day here in Nepal and has been a holiday, with all roads and most shops
closed. All has been very peaceful here in Pokhara which we are grateful for. These are a few pics from the polling booths...
















This is Pokhara's main shopping street normally crammed full of buses, motorbikes and street sellers. Today even the stray cows seemed to have stayed away.























A happy voter: nost people seemed excited to have the chance to vote and were optimistic about positive change coming from the process.















Polling started at 7.00 in the morning and this was the scene by 8.00 - quite different from the ghostly quiet village halls I remember from voting in the UK!!












Many people queued for three hours in hot sun to cast their first vote in nine years. One quote I heard was 'we are not worried about the election process - that is fine. It is the results that will cause trouble'!!
















People were keen to cast their votes and then get away from the crowds just in case there was any trouble, and by mid afternoon all the polling stations I saw were empty. Just as well that the roads were closed - this station was in the middle of a normally busy junction.
















There were plenty of bystanders, including armed police....





















... and 'independent observers' - apparently there were over 100,000 of them around the country.





















Evie doing her own election monitoring with finger paints....