‘More egalitarian’: How Nepal’s Gen Z used gaming app Discord to pick PM

It was a first for an electoral democracy. Backers say it’s more transparent than what politicians do. But it has risks.

Kathmandu, Nepal – As Nepal burned on Thursday after two days of deadly unrest that ousted a government accused of corruption, thousands of young people gathered in a heated debate to decide their nation’s next leader.

To them, the country’s mainstream politicians across the major parties were discredited: 14 governments representing three parties have taken turns at governing since 2008, when Nepal adopted a new constitution after abolishing its monarchy.

But in the wake of a brutal crackdown on protesters by security forces that killed at least 72 people, their trust in the country’s political system itself had been shattered. They wanted to select a consensus leader who would steer the country of 30 million people out of chaos and take steps towards stamping out corruption and nepotism. Just not in the way countries usually pick their heads.

So, they chose Nepal’s next leader in a manner unprecedented for any electoral democracy – through a virtual poll on Discord, a United States-based free messaging platform mainly used by online gamers.

The online huddle was organised by Hami Nepal, a Gen Z group behind the protest with more than 160,000 members.