Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel and UML Vice-chair Subash Chandra Nembang are the two candidates in the presidential election slated for March 9. While Paudel has the support of eight parties, so far, Nembang is backed by only the UML. With the presidential election less than a week away, Republica’s Pushpa Bhatta caught up with Nembang for an interview. Excerpts:

KATHMANDU, Feb 26: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has called a central committee meeting for Monday. The meeting is said to have been called to discuss which presidential candidate the party should vote for.

KATHMANDU, Feb 25: Presidential candidate Ram Chandra Paudel has held a meeting with Chairman of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Rabi Lamichhane.

KATHMANDU, Feb 25: CPN-UML has decided to write letters to all other parties except Nepali Congress (NC) asking for support to elect Subash Chandra Nemwang as the new president.

MORANG, Feb 11: Senior leader of the CPN (Unified Socialist) and former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal has said that the presidential candidate should have a political background. "Independent person cannot retain the glory of the presidential post," he argued while talking to media-persons at the Biratnagar Airport on Saturday.

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: A meeting of the high-level political mechanism is scheduled to be held at 3 PM today. According to the Prime Minister's Office, the meeting is scheduled to be held at 3 PM today.

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: The meeting of the High Level Political Mechanism that was scheduled for today has fallen uncertain.

KATHMANDU, Feb 8: General Secretary of Nepali Congress (NC) Gagan Kumar Thapa has claimed that his party will defeat the presidential candidate proposed by CPN-UML.

KATHMANDU, Jan 26: CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has stressed the need for forging national consensus on the presidential candidate.

KATHMANDU, August 27: Nepali Congress (NC) Vice President Bimalendra Nidhi has announced that he would be contesting for the party president post in the upcoming 14th General Convention.

The 2020 presidential race is right around the corner, with analysts predicting as many as 40 Democrat candidates may launch campaign bids against President Donald Trump for the White House.