Nepal votes after protests: Oli eyes comeback as Shah leads new guard in March 5 polls

World

People planning to leave the country and apply for foreign employment in search of better opportunities queue as they prepare for an interview at Motherland Overseas, a recruitment agency, as Nepal’s biggest political parties vow to fix the outflow of workers ahead of the elections of the House of Representatives scheduled for March 5, triggered by historic youth-led protests fuelled by the lack of jobs and endemic corruption that forced an elected prime minister to resign, in Kathmandu, Nepal, February 22, 2026. — Reuters pic

Thursday, 26 Feb 2026 9:00 PM MYT

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 — Nepal will hold a national election next month, its first since deadly youth-led anti-graft protests toppled the government of then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in September.

As the Himalayan nation prepares for the March 5 polls, here is a look at the key contenders, and what is at stake.

The voters

Nearly 19 million of Nepal’s 30 million people are eligible to vote in the March 5 election for the 275-member assembly.

Balendra Shah, a rapper-turned-politician and the prime ministerial candidate for Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), interacts with locals ahead of Nepal’s general election, at a RSP office in Damak in Jhapa district, in Nepal, February 25, 2026. — Reuters pic

About one million of the votes — most of them youth — were added after last year’s protests, which killed 77 people and injured more than 2,000.

While direct contests will decide 165 seats, which means the person who gets the most votes will win, the rest will be filled through proportional representation, where seats are allocated to parties in proportion to their vote share.

Election authorities say 65 political parties are in the fray.

Issues at stake

Nepali Congress party’s president and election candidate Gagan Thapa (centre) greets supporters during door-to-door campaign in Sarlahi on February 21, 2026. — AFP pic

Apart from corruption, job creation is among the main issues, analysts say, with about a fifth of the population living in poverty, and high youth unemployment.

Ties with India and China, which border Nepal and are among its major trade partners, will also be a factor in the election as the landlocked nation negotiates a balance between the Asian powers.

While India accounts for two-thirds of Nepal’s international trade, China accounts for 14 per cent and has also lent the country — among the world’s poorest — more than US$130 million (RM507 million), according to the World Bank.

Key contenders

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) election candidate Biraj Bhakta Shrestha greets supporters during door-to-door campaign in Kathmandu on February 20, 2026. — AFP pic

Rapper-turned-politician and former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, 35, of the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party is among the frontrunners for prime minister.

Facing him in the Jhapa 5 constituency is four-time prime minister Oli, 74, of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), vying for the top post again but facing an uphill battle to win back young voters who ousted him barely six months ago.

Youths register themselves for the upcoming Nepal’s parliamentary elections, in Kathmandu on October 13, 2025. Overseas Nepali workers bankroll their families and buttress the economy, making them a key constituency in elections, but they cannot vote themselves. — AFP pic

Other contenders include the centrist Nepali Congress party’s 49-year-old Gagan Thapa and three-time prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 71, who now leads the Nepali Communist Party.

Oli has been a liberal communist since the 1990s while Dahal led a bloody Maoist insurgency for a decade before joining mainstream politics in 2006. — Reuters

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