KATHMANDU (TIP): Nepal will hold its first local elections in two decades in May, the government has announced, a key moment in the country’s fraught transition to democracy. The impoverished Himalayan nation emerged from a brutal decade-long civil war in 2006, which brought the end of the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy and transformed it into a secular republic.

But deep political divides have prevented it from implementing a new constitution that paves the way for elections, but which the minority Madhesi community says leaves them politically marginalised. “The government has taken a historic decision. The election will be held in a single phase across the country,” Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said following a late night cabinet meeting on Monday.

“Election is compulsory for safeguarding all agendas and implementing the constitution for the functioning of democracy.” Local polls will be held on May 14, paving the way for provincial and then national elections later in the year. The Madhesis, who live in the densely populated Terai plains bordering India, want the constitution to be amended first and have pledged to protest against the polls.