Nepal prepares for decisive elections; employment key to youth vote

Kathmandu, Mar 4 (EFE).- Preparations were underway in Nepal on Wednesday, a day before it holds decisive general election, where the issue of employment appears key to secure the vote of the youth especially after the so called “Gen-Z” protests in September that more than 70 people dead and which led to the government being toppled in a matter of hours.

Nearly 19 million Nepalis are to vote to elect the 275 members of the House of Representatives, to bring an end to months of political instability in the Himalayan country of some 30 million inhabitants.

The campaign has focused almost entirely on employment and the economy in a country where nearly 800,000 people migrate each year to work abroad, mainly to the Middle East, looking for opportunities that many young people claim are absent in Nepal.

The parties that have dominated Nepalese politics for years, together with the new faces that aspire to govern the country, have used promises of economic recovery and employment as the main driving force of their campaigns.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, whose government fell after the protests, now seeks to regain the support of the youth with proposals such as free mobile data, interest-free student loans and internship programs.

The Nepali Congress, the country’s oldest democratic party, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) have also focused their agenda on the creation of new job opportunities.

Balendra Shah, known as Balen, a rapper-turned-politician and former mayor of Kathmandu linked to the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), is emerging as a frontrunner among those seeking an alternative to traditional parties.

«These are all ambitious goals to attract voters,» economist Chandra Mani Adhikari told EFE, adding that achieving these goals put forward by the political parties would require sustained economic growth and massive investment far above current levels.

The elections will be held amid strong security following the violence that accompanied last year’s protests, which resulted in the burning of key government buildings, including the parliament, the Supreme Court and the presidential residence.

A total of 188,000 security personnel will be deployed throughout the country along with about 134,000 temporary electoral police, Electoral Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told EFE.

The process also faces logistical challenges in a country of extreme geography. In some remote mountainous districts, snow and lack of roads have forced officials and security forces to walk for days to transport electoral materials to polling centers. EFE

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