Nepal votes today to elect a new government in the first poll to be held since the Gen Z uprising last year toppled the K.P. Sharma Oli-led administration last year.
Around 19 million voters will elect the 275-member House of Representatives, 165 through direct contests and 110 via proportional representation from party lists.
In the race is the old guard—Oli and his Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist or UML), which has dominated the country’s politics for decades. A familiar but so-called reformed Nepali Congress, led by Gagan Thapa, and three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), whose Prime Minister candidate is rapper-turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, are the parties raising the GenZ issues.
Results could take a day or two to be announced as Nepal’s Himalayan terrain makes it difficult to transport ballots. Votes are counted manually in the country.
Nepal elections 2026 | LIVE UPDATES
8.00 am: ‘My duty is completed’
Nepal’s interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki said her “duty has been completed” after casting her vote for the general election in Kathmandu.
The interim government led by former chief justice Sushila Karki has walked a precarious line over the past few months. It was tasked primarily with conducting elections, but was also propelled into office by public demand for accountability and an end to corruption. Read ThePrint’s ground report by Debdutta Chakraborty.
7.00 am: Voting begins
Polling has begun in the mountainous country, months after the GenZ uprising ousted the K.P. Oli-led government.