In the News: Nepal Votes to End Monarchy

Nepalese lawmakers have voted to abolish the nation’s 239-year-old monarchy, concluding a decade-long struggle by former Maoist rebels to install a republic in the country. Gyanendra, the world’s last Hindu king, has been given 15 days to vacate the royal palace after a 560 to 4 vote by the newly elected special assembly. After taking control of the government in 2005, Gyanendra lost a great deal of his authority a year later after street protests forced him to cede power to the last elected government. Pressure from the Maoists in 2007 forced Parliament to declare Nepal a federal democratic republic. The special assembly must now govern the country for the next two years while it rewrites the constitution.

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