Onsari Gharti Magar of the UCPN (Maoist) was unanimously elected the Speaker of Legislature-Parliament on Friday. She is the first ever female and the youngest person to hold the position in the country’s history.

Magar, 38, was elected unopposed after her only contender, also a woman, from Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party (NMKP), Anuradha Thapa, withdrew her candidacy.

CPN-UML Vice-chairperson Bidhya Bhandari had proposed Magar’s candidacy, which was seconded by Kunti Shahi of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and Biswendra Paswan of the Bahujan Shakti Party.

Magar, who hails from Rolpa district, joined the Maoist party in 1995. She went on to become the battalion chief and a central committee member of then-CPN (Maoist) in 2002 at the age of 25. She became a member of the first Constituent Assembly under proportional system and was elected directly from Rolpa constituency-2 in the second CA election in 2013.

Magar served as the Minister for Youth and Sports in the Jhala Nath Khanal-led government and more recently as the vice-chairperson of the second CA. Magar is the wife of Maoist Secretary Barsha Man Pun.

Meanwhile, Ganga Prasad Yadav of the RPP-Nepal was elected the deputy speaker. He, too, was elected unanimously after his rival Dilli Prasad Kafle of the NMKP withdrew his candidacy at the request of the ruling parties.

Yadav’s candidacy was proposed by Shartudhan Mahato of the UML and seconded by Rekha Sharma of the UCPN (Maoist). Deputy Speaker Yadav, 65, who hails from Saptari district, was an active politician during the Panchayat regime. He had served as a Pradhanpanch and later chaired the Village Development Committee of Joganiya in Saptari from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party. He is currently a central working committee member and lawmaker of the RPP-Nepal.

Both Magar and Thapa had filed their candidacy after the parties failed to come up with unanimous candidates for the posts of Speaker and deputy Speaker within Thursday’s deadline. Article 299 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal requires the selection of the two officials in consensus within 20 days of the resumption of the Parliament session.

After the resignation of Subas Nembang and Magar as chairman and deputy chairperson of the CA, Parliament had directed the parties to nominate a consensus candidate by 3pm on Thursday. Since the parties could not decide on one, voting was initiated according to Article 299 (3) of the constitution.

The ruling coalition had fielded Magar and Yadav for the posts. Their nominations were later supported by the opposition parties, including the Nepali Congress.

The NC, which had announced to contest in all the positions, rolled backed its decision after assessing that the party’s defeat was inevitable. NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel said the party decided not to field its candidates for the Speaker’s and deputy Speaker’s posts after chief of the High-level Political Mechanism Puspa Kamal Dahal sought the largest party’s support.