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 measures to control corruption, speed up service delivery, and instill a sense of professionalism in public institutions — all among the new party’s poll promises.

So, the new set of lawmakers offer plenty of hope. But youth does not necessarily mean delivery. Nor does a strong mandate do much to remove old structural constraints.

The old vested interests will fight tooth and nail to preserve their privileges. The bureaucracy is ossified, its plight made worse by the increasing paucity of competent personnel to hold key posts. The abundance of new MPs and ministers might also make them amenable to the influence of entrenched crony capitalists.

These young MPs will also soon learn that while they rode to victory on the populist wave created by Balendra Shah, they might need to amass bigger war chests to fund their future election campaigns. Elections in Nepal are expensive.

Another big responsibility of the new government will be to punish those responsible for suppressing the Gen Z uprising. In the eyes of Gen Z, this primarily means prosecuting former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli and his home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, both of whom are held responsible for gunning down unarmed youth during the protests. Yet it will be difficult to punish them under current laws. If the government is seen to be dragging its feet on this, it could contribute to disillusionment with the new political order, especially among the youth.

In that case, even Gen Z, the new party’s main backers, could turn against it.

There will be other challenges.

Geopolitics will play a role. As the competition for influence among India, China, and the United States in South Asia heats up, Kathmandu will find it hard to keep up with the difficult balancing act between the big powers. The RSP’s goal of making Nepal a vibrant economic bridge between the two giant neighbors will soon collide with the hard reality of India and China’s competing aims in the region.

People are also impatient and will want to see immediate changes. But the country has changed drastically, almost overnight — first after the Gen Z uprising, and then the March 5 elections.

The old political parties are greatly diminished. There is a surge of optimism. The new government will face little parliamentary opposition in pushing for vital reforms — in big projects (speeding up procurement), service delivery (taking more of it online), legislation (enacting laws to make federalism functional) and universities (minimizing political interference).

However, there has traditionally been a big gulf between expectations of Nepali governments and their actual delivery. The old order fell with surprising ease. Building a new one will be a lot harder.

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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 measures to control corruption, speed up service delivery, and instill a sense of professionalism in public institutions — all among the new party’s poll promises.

So, the new set of lawmakers offer plenty of hope. But youth does not necessarily mean delivery. Nor does a strong mandate do much to remove old structural constraints.

The old vested interests will fight tooth and nail to preserve their privileges. The bureaucracy is ossified, its plight made worse by the increasing paucity of competent personnel to hold key posts. The abundance of new MPs and ministers might also make them amenable to the influence of entrenched crony capitalists.

These young MPs will also soon learn that while they rode to victory on the populist wave created by Balendra Shah, they might need to amass bigger war chests to fund their future election campaigns. Elections in Nepal are expensive.

Another big responsibility of the new government will be to punish those responsible for suppressing the Gen Z uprising. In the eyes of Gen Z, this primarily means prosecuting former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli and his home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, both of whom are held responsible for gunning down unarmed youth during the protests. Yet it will be difficult to punish them under current laws. If the government is seen to be dragging its feet on this, it could contribute to disillusionment with the new political order, especially among the youth.

In that case, even Gen Z, the new party’s main backers, could turn against it.

There will be other challenges.

Geopolitics will play a role. As the competition for influence among India, China, and the United States in South Asia heats up, Kathmandu will find it hard to keep up with the difficult balancing act between the big powers. The RSP’s goal of making Nepal a vibrant economic bridge between the two giant neighbors will soon collide with the hard reality of India and China’s competing aims in the region.

People are also impatient and will want to see immediate changes. But the country has changed drastically, almost overnight — first after the Gen Z uprising, and then the March 5 elections.

The old political parties are greatly diminished. There is a surge of optimism. The new government will face little parliamentary opposition in pushing for vital reforms — in big projects (speeding up procurement), service delivery (taking more of it online), legislation (enacting laws to make federalism functional) and universities (minimizing political interference).

However, there has traditionally been a big gulf between expectations of Nepali governments and their actual delivery. The old order fell with surprising ease. Building a new one will be a lot harder.

Biswas Baral is the Editor of The Kathmandu Post and a columnist for The Diplomat. He writes on Nepal’s domestic politics and foreign policy.

Nepali parliamentarians

Rastriya Swatantra Party

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