Nepal has churned through 14 governments since it junked its monarchy in 2008. The country's political class is small, chummy and entitled. Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli became prime minister in 2024, having already served three previous stints in the country's top job.
On September 8th 2025 at least 19 youngsters taking part in demonstrations against government corruption were killed, apparently by security forces. Oli resigned the following day. The most immediate spark for the upheaval was the banning on September 4th of 26 social-media sites, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, on the ground that these companies had failed to register with the authorities as required by new regulations. The blackout was later reversed.
A day of destruction followed Oli's departure: mobs ransacked and set fire to parliament, government offices and the homes of politicians. A former prime minister's wife was reportedly badly burned. Politicians were beaten in the streets; prisons were attacked, leading to the escape of thousands of inmates. Calm began to return when the army said it was stepping in to restore order and declared a curfew.
The protest movement has come to be dubbed the "Gen Z" movement, in reference to the youth of its participants. Protesters hoisted the "One Piece" Jolly Roger flag, an anime-inspired symbol of youthful rebellion that had spread from Indonesia and later appeared in Madagascar, the Philippines, Peru and Morocco. Representatives from the movement held talks with military leaders and called for a caretaker government excluding most career politicians. Sushila Karki, a former chief justice known for her rectitude, was floated as a possible leader; she had been seen among protesters in the capital. On September 12th the president dissolved parliament and appointed Karki as interim prime minister. At least some Nepalis saw the unrest as an opportunity to call for the return of the monarchy.
Nepal's politics is dominated by the left and in particular "three old men": Sher Bahadur Deuba (79) of the Nepali Congress; Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda (71), of the Maoists; and Oli (73) of the Communists. Since the country adopted its current constitution in 2015, the three have propped each other up in coalitions, playing what many Nepalis see as a game of musical chairs. There have been seven governments since, excluding the interim one. Oli has demanded the restoration of parliament; the Nepali Congress is in the midst of an internal power struggle. All three parties agreed to register for elections scheduled for March 5th 2026.
Many young protest leaders are venturing into politics by starting their own parties. Kishori Karki, who went viral after rescuing an injured protester in September, registered her own party. Nearly 840,000 new voters have joined the electoral rolls since September. India has leant on the major parties to take part and will provide security and logistical support; China is keen to avoid instability on its border.
In January 2026 Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), a four-year-old party founded by a former television host on an anti-corruption platform. Youth leaders and voters of all ages followed. In national elections on March 5th 2026 the RSP won 183 of 275 seats in the lower house, just one short of a supermajority. Balen, running in the Jhapa-5 constituency, defeated his opponent—the 74-year-old four-time former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli—by a ratio of seven votes to two. Aged 35, Balen became Nepal's next prime minister. The outcome was a democratic confirmation of the Gen-Z uprising that ousted Oli's government.
GDP per person is barely above $1,400, roughly half that of neighbouring India. Nepal's median age is 26, yet one in five young people is unemployed. Many feel compelled to seek work abroad: nearly 2.2m of Nepal's 29m people live overseas, most of them men. Remittances make up more than a quarter of GDP; some 8% of GDP comes from workers in the Gulf alone, according to the World Bank, making Nepal acutely vulnerable to disruptions in the region.
Nepal already produces more electricity from hydropower than it uses. It has long supplied electricity to India and recently started selling power to Bangladesh too, using India's grid, though it took an age for everyone to agree. Nepal continues to build capacity and hopes to export the surplus.
India, Nepal's neighbour and biggest trading partner, has long pushed it around. Yet in recent years its influence has been challenged by China, which has poured money into Nepal through its belt-and-road infrastructure initiative and keeps a watchful eye on the Tibetan community there. Oli had been seen as sympathetic to China. In response to the September 2025 crisis, Narendra Modi convened his security cabinet and ordered the closure of the land border with Nepal.
It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck? One in a million, perhaps.