Over 800,000 new voters register for Nepal post-uprising polls

KATHMANDU – Hundreds of thousands of new voters have registered to cast their ballots in Nepal’s first polls since a mass uprising in September ousted the government, election officials said on Nov 23.

Election Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told AFP that there was “a total of 837,094 registered names” of first-time voters.

Mr Bhattarai said that by Nov 21, 123 established parties had registered to take part in the March 5 parliamentary polls, while another 40 new slates were awaiting further verification before being allowed to run.

Interest in the election has surged, especially among young people who see it as a critical test of whether the demands of protesters who took to the streets against economic hardships and government corruption can translate into meaningful change.

Ms Dikshya Poudel, a 19-year-old student, said the uprising had encouraged her to register her name last week.

“I am excited to cast my vote for the first time in the upcoming election. I will be voting for a new changemaker,” she told AFP.

The protests were initially triggered by

a brief ban on social media

but quickly morphed into a nationwide anti-corruption movement.

At least 76 people were killed during the demonstrations, and Parliament, courts and government offices were torched.

Four-time prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, 73, was ousted, with

former chief justice Sushila Karki

, also 73, replacing him in an interim capacity until the election.

Years of economic stagnation and entrenched corruption had primed the Himalayan nation of 30 million people for upheaval.

“I dream of seeing new faces in politics who can create jobs, eradicate poverty and make Nepal a better place to live so that youth like me won’t have to go abroad,” Ms Poudel said.

The unrest has further weakened Nepal’s already fragile economy, with the World Bank warning in October that “heightened political and economic uncertainty are expected to cause growth to decline” to 2.1 per cent.

The institution estimates a “staggering” 82 per cent of Nepal’s workforce to be in informal employment, with gross domestic product per capita at US$1,447 (S$1,890) in 2024. AFP