Overview
- Nearly 19 million people are eligible to vote, with about one million—mostly young—added to the rolls after last year’s protests.
- Balendra (Balen) Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party is challenging former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli directly in Jhapa-5, with Nepali Congress’s Gagan Thapa and Pushpa Kamal Dahal also vying for power.
- Parties are courting first-time and younger voters with anti-corruption platforms, job-creation plans, and promises to digitize government services.
- Nepal will elect 165 lawmakers by direct contests and 110 by proportional representation, and observers say no party is likely to secure a clear majority.
- Experts say the next government is likely to keep Nepal’s careful diplomatic balance between India and China despite changes in domestic leadership.