Nepal Elections 2026: Parties, Power, and the Promise of Change | Himal Conversations

Nepal goes to the polls on 5 March 2026. But what do these elections actually mean for a country still navigating the turbulence of its recent past?In this episode, Himal's editor Roman Gautam and associate editor Nayantara Narayanan are joined by law student and intersectional feminist Anjali Sah and writer and journalist Pranaya Rana for a wide-ranging conversation on Nepal's upcoming general elections.They dig into the parties contesting and what they actually stand for, the tired persistence of the old guard and whether a new generation of politics is genuinely possible, the unfinished business of federalism, the stubborn underrepresentation of women candidates, and very importantly - what last year's Gen Z protests revealed about the deep frustrations simmering beneath the surface of Nepali public life.Nepal has been through a remarkable and often painful political journey, from monarchy to republic, from civil war to constitution, and yet the same faces, the same compromises, and the same impunity have a way of enduring. This conversation asks whether March 5 is a turning point, or another chapter in a longer story of deferred hope.