Nepal's parliament elected lawmaker Bidhya Bhandari as the country's first female president Wednesday, after the adoption of a landmark constitution last month.

Bhandari, currently the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), defeated her opponent Kul Bahadur Gurung of the Nepali Congress by securing 327 to 214 votes to become the Himalayan nation's ceremonial head of state.