Washington: As the results of elections in Nepal trickled in, the United States said the Himalayan nation has taken "a real step forward" and it is a start of democracy.

"At first glance, it would appear Nepal has taken a real step forward here. But we all know that democracy doesn t end on election day. That's only the start of it," US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reports at Foggy Bottom.

It is important to govern in a democratic manner, once you have won the election, and govern on behalf of the people who elected you. And even those who voted against you as well, he added.

The US official said that it will be an assessment from some of the on-the-ground monitors in the next day or so, in terms of what they saw and whether or not they viewed these elections as free and fair.

"The counting process is underway. I think they are probably about a third of the way through the counting process right now," McCormack said.

Source : PTI