Nepal Election Today: First Election After Gen Z Protest Against Corruption | 5 Key Things to Know

Nepal Election Today: Months after Nepal's GenZ protest caused the downfall of KP Sharma Oli's government in 2025, the country is heading for general elections on Thursday, March 5. The general election will pave the way for Nepal to choose its next government.

Nearly 18.9 million voters will cast their vote to elect their prime minister. The three key candidates in the prime ministerial race are the rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, Gagan Thapa of Nepali Congress, and former prime minister KP Oli. Here are all the details related to Nepal Election.

Nepal Election: 19 Million Voters To Exercise Their Franchise

-Nearly 19 million citizens will cast their vote on Thursday, February 5. Nepal elections are being held months after the country witnessed a huge youth-led protests in September against corruption, misrule, and patronage networks.

-Around one million of the total voters will be youngsters which makes them entitled to a crucial position in Nepal's politics.

-Three prime ministerial candidates in the race are rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, Gagan Thapa of Nepali Congress, and former prime minister KP Oli.

-The election has raised hopes of an election reset and shifting focus to demands raised during the youtube movementfor accountability, cleaner governance and economic reforms that benefit more than just party loyalists.

-Nepal elections will include voting to choose a new House of Representatives, known as Pratinidhi Sabha, which is the country's federal lower house. It is made of 275 seats from across the country.

-Out of the total seats in Pratinidhi Sabha, 165 are filled through First-Past-The-Post system, and the remaining 110 will be filled through Proportional Represenation. Hence, each voter in Nepal will mark two separate ballots during the election.

-The First-Past-The-Post system will include candidates receiving the most votes in constituency wins and parties gains seats based on their share of the nationwide vote. Nepal's Election Commission applies the Sainte-Laguë method to divide these proportional seats among parties, which makes the final party tallies more complex to predict.

-Any party which secures a simple majority in the 275-member House by winning at least 138 seats will be declared as the winner of Nepal Elections.

-If no party reaches the threshold, the single largest party is invited to try to form a government. This usually means coalition talks between several groups, something Nepali politics has seen repeatedly since 1990.

-The election was advanced after a two-day Gen Z protest wave in September, during which 77 people died. Of these, 19 protesters were killed in police firing on 8 September, the first day of demonstrations. That unrest forced parties to accept an early poll as a corrective step and a chance to respond to youth anger.