Nepal’s election campaign enters its final day on Monday, six months after deadly anti-corruption protests brought down the government, with rival leaders making a final appeal in what has become a tightly fought contest.
The Himalayan republic will elect a new parliament on Thursday, replacing the interim administration that has governed the country of 30 million since the September 2025 uprising, in which at least 77 people were killed.
Sushila Karki, serving as interim prime minister until the 5 March poll, has said the election will “shape the future of the country”.
A fortnight of campaigning has highlighted a surge of younger candidates pledging to confront Nepal’s struggling economy, challenging veteran politicians who have dominated public life for two decades and who argue that their experience ensures stability and security.
Among the principal figures is KP Sharma Oli, the 74-year-old Marxist leader who was removed as prime minister last year.
He faces a prominent challenge in his home constituency from former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, the 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician widely known as Balen.
Their constituency of Jhapa-5 — a combination of market towns and agricultural settlements in Nepal’s eastern plains, with the world’s highest peaks visible on the horizon — has emerged as a pivotal battleground.
Defeat there for either candidate would almost certainly extinguish his prospects of becoming prime minister.
Old age club
“I will vote for Balendra Shah because those who governed the country for more than three decades did nothing satisfactory for us, and corruption was very high,” said Nirmala Shrestha, 40, as she attended Shah’s rally in Kathmandu on Saturday.
“The turning point was the protest last year when young people were shot dead. Thinking about that day still makes me feel sad and brings me to tears.”
Oli, speaking to AFP, blamed “anarchic forces” for the violence that led to his removal and denied ordering security forces to shoot protesters during the unrest.
Shah, representing the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has positioned himself as a symbol of youth-driven political change.
“Gen Z’s primary demand is good governance, because corruption in the country is very high,” Shah told AFP.
However, he is not alone in courting younger voters.
Gagan Thapa, 49, an aspiring prime minister and the new leader of the country’s oldest party, Nepali Congress, told AFP he aimed to dismantle what he described as the “old age” club of revolving veteran leaders.
Thapa, a former health minister who assumed leadership in January, said he offered voters the “right mix of energy and experience”.
Without any fear
Nearly 19 million registered voters will elect 275 members of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament — 165 chosen directly and a further 110 through a party-list proportional representation system.
Analysts say the vote is unlikely to produce an outright majority for any single party.
More than 3,400 candidates are contesting the direct ballot, with 30 per cent aged under 40.
The youth-led protests in September were sparked by a temporary ban on social media but were driven by frustration over economic stagnation and an ageing political elite perceived as out of touch.
The World Bank estimates that 82 per cent of Nepal’s workforce is employed in the informal sector, with GDP per capita standing at $1,447 in 2024.
Over two days in September, 77 people were killed, dozens were injured, and hundreds of buildings were set ablaze — including parliament, courts and a Hilton hotel.
It marked the country’s worst violence since the decade-long civil war ended in 2006.
Karki, a former chief justice, has said her government “will leave no stone unturned to conduct the election in a clean, fair, fearless and peaceful manner”, urging “all citizens to exercise their voting rights with confidence and without any fear”.
