Nepal’s Gen Z threw out old parties. Will it vote for them in key election?

Last year’s protests reflected popular disenchantment with established political parties, which are again seeking power.

Kathmandu, Nepal – As Nepal heads for a crucial parliamentary election on March 5, the Himalayan country’s established parties are fighting not just for votes, but also for legitimacy.

That legitimacy was challenged in September last year when thousands of young Nepalis hit the streets, demanding that an ageing old guard, which has dominated Nepal’s politics for two decades, step down.

Triggered by a social media ban, the Gen Z-led protests soon turned into a wider uprising over a stagnant economy and corruption among the governing elite, forcing 74-year-old Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign and an interim government to be formed.

The protests, in which at least 77 people were killed, reflected a popular disenchantment with the established political parties, including Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), the Nepali Communist Party, comprising former Maoist rebels, and the centrist Nepali Congress party.

Many young Nepalis see these parties as an entitled and unresponsive political class, prone to corruption.