The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

Can Nepal’s Young Leaders Overcome Old Constraints?

While Nepal’s mostly young lawmakers offer hope, youth does not necessarily mean delivery. The old vested interests will fight to preserve their privileges.

Newly elected parliamentarians of the victorious Rastriya Swatantra Party pose for a group photograph, Kathmandu, Nepal, March 17, 2026.

One of the main demands of the September 2025 Gen Z uprising was the overthrow of the old political order, epitomized by the aging leaders of traditional political parties. Despite their growing unpopularity, the same set of actors seemed to find ways to win elections, make laws, and govern, year after year, decade after decade.

The federal elections on March 5, held in the backdrop of the Gen Z uprising, threw out the old order in one fell swoop. The appeal of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) under Balendra Shah, the popular ex-mayor of Kathmandu, was too strong. The old parties were discredited.

The elections gave a resounding mandate to the RSP, which was formed just three and a half years ago, with the party getting 182 of the 275 seats up for grabs. Most of those seats went to younger candidates, starting with Shah, the party’s prime ministerial candidate, who is 35.

In fact, of the 165 directly elected parliamentarians, 118 are aged 50 or younger. Among them, 12 are 30 or younger. On the other hand, only 11 of the 165 MPs are aged 60 or over. With most of the 110 proportional representation seats also going to the RSP, given its roster of young candidates, the new parliament is likely to be historically young.

This time, around 40 percent of lawmakers will be under 40 years of age. In the previous elections in 2022, only 11 percent were under 40. Before that, in the 2017 elections, just 13 percent of elected members were under 40.

Nepal, where the average age is just 26, will see itself reflected in the new parliament. The Gen Z uprising had already sparked a political awakening among this generation, which was otherwise growing increasingly apathetic to politics. They seem to have overwhelmingly voted in favor of the RSP, as did many of their parents and grandparents, who said they were fed up with the “corrupt and self-serving” political elites of traditional parties.

It will resemble a parliament of technocrats. Most RSP lawmakers are successful professionals in media, IT, medicine, law, business, and entertainment. In contrast to career politicians, they will bring fresh ideas and ways of working to the table. They will have little truck with old ideologies, rather looking to get things done in a business-like manner, which was also the hallmark of Shah during his three years as the mayor of Kathmandu.

People suddenly see hope where they previously saw only despair. The feeling is that with new faces at the helm and with an overwhelming mandate for the RSP, the new government can take immediate........

© The Diplomat