KATHMANDU: Nepal voted on Thursday for a new parliament in a high-stakes showdown between an entrenched old guard and a powerful youth movement, six months after deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government.

Key figures contesting for power include the Marxist former prime minister seeking a return to office, a rapper-turned-mayor bidding for the youth vote, and the newly elected leader of the powerful Nepali Congress party.

Election commission officials collected ballot boxes after voting closed, with papers taken under guard to centres before counting. “The voting process has been concluded peacefully and enthusiastically,” Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari told reporters, saying turnout had been around 60 per cent according to initial estimates.

Some winners are expected to be published as early as Friday, but full results may take several days. It may then take time before a government is formed if, as many analysts expect, no party wins an outright majority.

Voting process concludes peacefully with 60pc turnout

“Nepalis have been waiting for change for so long, from one system to another,” said Nilanta Shakya, 60, a retired engineer, who was among the first to vote at a college in the capital, Kathmandu. “I hope there is a meaningful change this time,” she added.

Voters have chosen who replaces the interim government in place since the September 2025 uprising, in which at least 77 people were killed, and parliament and scores of government buildings were torched.

Youth-led protests under a loose Gen Z banner began as a demonstration against a brief social media ban, but were fed by wider grievances at corruption and a woeful economy.

Sushila Karki, the interim prime minister, said the vote was critical in “determining our future”. The polls are one of the most hotly contested elections in the Himalayan republic of 30 million people since the end of a civil war in 2006. Thousands of soldiers and police have been deployed.

The election saw a wave of younger candidates promising to tackle Nepal’s dismal economy, challenging veteran politicians who have dominated for decades and argue that their experience guarantees stability and security.

“Today feels like a day of celebration,” said Nirmala Bhandari, 50, a housewife, who danced in the street with friends for a video for social media, after casting her vote in Bhaktapur district outside the capital. “I am hopeful that the country will get new leaders and that we will build a better nation.”

‘Blood will bring change’

Helicopters will be used to collect ballot boxes from snowbound mountain regions across Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest. But all eyes will be focused on the hot farming plains south of Kathmandu, where all three prime ministerial hopefuls contested seats — a departure from past elections that focused on the capital.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2026