Voting begins in Nepal's first general election since Gen Z protests: Here is a look at key contenders, what's at ⁠stake

More than 18.9 million eligible voters will be exercising their franchise; counting to start immediately after ballot boxes are collected.

Nepalese started to reach polling booths on Thursday morning to cast their vote in crucial general election, the first since a violent Gen Z-led protest that toppled the K P Sharma Oli-led government last year.

Promises of jobs, reining in corruption and improving governance — all demands raised during the September protests — have dominated much of the election campaign in Nepal.

More than 18.9 million eligible voters will be exercising their franchise to elect the 275-member House of Representatives from among the 3,406 candidates vying for 165 seats under direct voting, and 3,135 candidates vying for 110 seats through proportionate voting.

The voting started at 7 am and will conclude at 5 pm. The counting will start immediately after the ballot boxes are collected.

Here is a look at the key contenders and what is at ⁠stake.

19 million voters

Nearly 19 million of Nepal's 30 ‌million people are eligible to vote for the 275-member Assembly. About one million of the voters — most of them youth — were added after last year's protests, which killed 77 people and injured more than 2,000. The counting will start immediately after the ballot boxes are collected. While early trends are likely to emerge by Friday, complete results can take a week or more ⁠as counting of ⁠proportional representation votes would take time.

Three-day holiday

Starting Wednesday, Nepal has declared a three-day holiday for the polls. There are a total of 10,967 polling booths and 23,112 polling centres.

65 ⁠parties in the fray

While direct contests will decide 165 ​seats, which means the person ⁠who gets the most votes will win, the rest will be filled through proportional representation, where seats are allocated to parties in proportion to their vote share. Election authorities say 65 political ⁠parties are ‌in the fray.

Key contenders

Rapper-turned-politician and former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, 35, of the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party ⁠is among ⁠the frontrunners for the Prime Minister's post. Facing him in the Jhapa 5 constituency is four-time Prime Minister Oli, 74, of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), vying for the top post again but facing an uphill battle to win back young voters who ousted him barely six months ago.

Other contenders include the centrist Nepali Congress party's 49-year-old Gagan Thapa ​and three-time Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 71, who now leads ​the Nepali Communist Party.

Oli ​has been a liberal communist since the 1990s while Dahal led a bloody Maoist insurgency ​for a decade before joining mainstream politics in 2006. 

Security arrangements

Foolproof security arrangements have been made with the deployment of more than 3,00,000 security personnel under an integrated security plan in coordination with the Nepal Army. Authorities have implemented a three-phase security plan with aerial patrols, guarded polling stations and protected transport of ballot boxes.

Issues at stake

Apart from corruption, job creation is among the main issues. Ties with India and ⁠China, which border Nepal and are among its major trade partners, will also be a factor in ‌the election as the landlocked nation negotiates a balance ‌between the Asian powers.

Two-day protests by Gen Z youth

The Gen Z youth, through their two-day intensified protests last year on September 8 and 9, ousted Prime Minister Oli, who was heading a coalition government with the backing of Nepali Congress that enjoyed nearly two-thirds majority support.

After Oli's ouster, President Ramchandra Paudel dissolved the House of Representatives on September 12 and appointed former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the caretaker Prime Minister .

The major issues raised by Gen Z are anti-corruption, good governance, an end to nepotism, and generational change in political leadership.