KATHMANDU – Nearly six months after youth-led protests claiming 77 lives ousted Nepal’s prime minister, voters headed to the polls on March 5 to elect a new parliament in the strategically located Himalayan nation of 30 million, wedged between China and India.
Decades of political instability, corruption, and unemployment have ravaged its agrarian economy, boiling over in September 2025 when a social media ban sparked massive demonstrations, clashes, and the resignation of K.P. Sharma Oli.
Polling stations in schools, temples, and historic courtyards buzzed with activity as early risers in chilly Kathmandu joined lines nationwide. Voting ran from 7 a.m. local time to 5 p.m., with over 300,000 security personnel securing more than 23,000 booths, the election commission reported. Counting starts right after close, with initial trends by March 6 and full results potentially a week out due to proportional representation votes.
Some 19 million eligible voters chose among 3,400 candidates from 65 parties for 275 seats—165 first-past-the-post, 110 proportional. Veterans like Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (UML), Gagan Thapa’s Nepali Congress, and ex-Maoist Nepali Communist Party have long ruled, amid 32 governments in 35 years. But eyes turned to upstart Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Balendra Shah, the 35-year-old rapper and former Kathmandu mayor captivating young crowds online and off, challenging 74-year-old Oli near the Indian border.
Campaigns fixated on jobs, anti-corruption drives, and better governance, echoes of the “Gen Z protests.” In Jhapa, 70-year-old Menuka Chauhan waited 40 minutes, anxious for her Qatar-based son amid Middle East strife: “I wish there were jobs here.” Analyst Puranjan Acharya warned the vote must meet youth demands or risk more chaos.
Interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki implored in a broadcast: “Voting shapes your future and your children’s, not just a victory.”