A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
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A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
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World
/ March 13, 2026
A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
Nepal’s “Gen Z revolution” achieved historic and unexpected electoral success—but transformational change remains elusive.
Wen Stephenson
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Nepali Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah waves to supporters during a campaign roadshow in the district of Jhapa on March 1, 2026, in Bidhabare, Nepal.
(Rebecca Conway / Getty Images)
Kathmandu—Last week, on the afternoon before Nepal’s special elections called by interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki after September’s “Gen Z” uprising, I walked across Kathmandu from the Swayambhu neighborhood on the city’s northwest side to the burned-out parliament building in the New Baneshwor quarter to the southeast. Along the way I passed the Singha Durbar palace complex, home to the prime minister’s and cabinet ministers’ offices, its main building under reconstruction after September’s arson, an armored vehicle parked inside the imposing gates. Not far down the street was the still fire-scarred Supreme Court.
When I reached the sprawling modern parliament complex along the wide boulevard called Madan Bhandari Road, I met a young man keeping vigil on the sidewalk in front of a makeshift memorial shrine. Taped to the main gate were photos of the 19 young protesters that security forces shot dead outside Parliament on September 8. Their deaths set off a nationwide conflagration—in all, 77 people died in the chaos of September 8 and 9—which resulted in the resignation of 74-year-old, three-time prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli and the dissolution of Parliament, and ushered in a new political era for this struggling nation of 30 million.
“The people inside that building didn’t care about us,” the young man, an earnest, 27-year-old Tribhuvan University graduate student, told me. “The government didn’t care about the people, they only cared about their own wealth and power, their own authority.”
He showed me where a bullet had grazed the back of his neck on September 8, holding up a photo on his phone so that I could see what the fresh wound had looked like. “I am lucky to be alive. It’s like I was given a new start to my life, a new chance.”
Current Issue
April 2026 Issue
So, too, his country. On March 5, Nepali voters swept the three major legacy parties out of power, handing a parliamentary supermajority to the upstart, Gen Z-favored Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and its wildly popular, populist PM candidate, Balendra “Balen” Shah, a 35-year-old engineer, former rapper, and, until recently, independent mayor of Kathmandu.
The …
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A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
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Current Issue
World
/ March 13, 2026
A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
Nepal’s “Gen Z revolution” achieved historic and unexpected electoral success—but transformational change remains elusive.
Wen Stephenson
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Nepali Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah waves to supporters during a campaign roadshow in the district of Jhapa on March 1, 2026, in Bidhabare, Nepal.
(Rebecca Conway / Getty Images)
Kathmandu—Last week, on the afternoon before Nepal’s special elections called by interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki after September’s “Gen Z” uprising, I walked across Kathmandu from the Swayambhu neighborhood on the city’s northwest side to the burned-out parliament building in the New Baneshwor quarter to the southeast. Along the way I passed the Singha Durbar palace complex, home to the prime minister’s and cabinet ministers’ offices, its main building under reconstruction after September’s arson, an armored vehicle parked inside the imposing gates. Not far down the street was the still fire-scarred Supreme Court.
When I reached the sprawling modern parliament complex along the wide boulevard called Madan Bhandari Road, I met a young man keeping vigil on the sidewalk in front of a makeshift memorial shrine. Taped to the main gate were photos of the 19 young protesters that security forces shot dead outside Parliament on September 8. Their deaths set off a nationwide conflagration—in all, 77 people died in the chaos of September 8 and 9—which resulted in the resignation of 74-year-old, three-time prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli and the dissolution of Parliament, and ushered in a new political era for this struggling nation of 30 million.
“The people inside that building didn’t care about us,” the young man, an earnest, 27-year-old Tribhuvan University graduate student, told me. “The government didn’t care about the people, they only cared about their own wealth and power, their own authority.”
He showed me where a bullet had grazed the back of his neck on September 8, holding up a photo on his phone so that I could see what the fresh wound had looked like. “I am lucky to be alive. It’s like I was given a new start to my life, a new chance.”
Current Issue
April 2026 Issue
So, too, his country. On March 5, Nepali voters swept the three major legacy parties out of power, handing a parliamentary supermajority to the upstart, Gen Z-favored Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and its wildly popular, populist PM candidate, Balendra “Balen” Shah, a 35-year-old engineer, former rapper, and, until recently, independent mayor of Kathmandu.
The …
A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
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A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
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Current Issue
World
/ March 13, 2026
A Sweeping Victory for Gen Z in Nepal—but Not Yet a “Revolution”
Nepal’s “Gen Z revolution” achieved historic and unexpected electoral success—but transformational change remains elusive.
Wen Stephenson
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Nepali Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah waves to supporters during a campaign roadshow in the district of Jhapa on March 1, 2026, in Bidhabare, Nepal.
(Rebecca Conway / Getty Images)
Kathmandu—Last week, on the afternoon before Nepal’s special elections called by interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki after September’s “Gen Z” uprising, I walked across Kathmandu from the Swayambhu neighborhood on the city’s northwest side to the burned-out parliament building in the New Baneshwor quarter to the southeast. Along the way I passed the Singha Durbar palace complex, home to the prime minister’s and cabinet ministers’ offices, its main building under reconstruction after September’s arson, an armored vehicle parked inside the imposing gates. Not far down the street was the still fire-scarred Supreme Court.
When I reached the sprawling modern parliament complex along the wide boulevard called Madan Bhandari Road, I met a young man keeping vigil on the sidewalk in front of a makeshift memorial shrine. Taped to the main gate were photos of the 19 young protesters that security forces shot dead outside Parliament on September 8. Their deaths set off a nationwide conflagration—in all, 77 people died in the chaos of September 8 and 9—which resulted in the resignation of 74-year-old, three-time prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli and the dissolution of Parliament, and ushered in a new political era for this struggling nation of 30 million.
“The people inside that building didn’t care about us,” the young man, an earnest, 27-year-old Tribhuvan University graduate student, told me. “The government didn’t care about the people, they only cared about their own wealth and power, their own authority.”
He showed me where a bullet had grazed the back of his neck on September 8, holding up a photo on his phone so that I could see what the fresh wound had looked like. “I am lucky to be alive. It’s like I was given a new start to my life, a new chance.”
Current Issue
April 2026 Issue
So, too, his country. On March 5, Nepali voters swept the three major legacy parties out of power, handing a parliamentary supermajority to the upstart, Gen Z-favored Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and its wildly popular, populist PM candidate, Balendra “Balen” Shah, a 35-year-old engineer, former rapper, and, until recently, independent mayor of Kathmandu.
The …
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