Nepal, a country that has swung between monarchy and democracy before settling, for now, as a federal republic, is once again at a defining crossroads. On Thursday, nearly 19 million registered voters are set to choose a new House of Representatives in an election shaped less by traditional party rivalries and more by the aftershocks of a youth-led uprising that toppled a government and rattled a political establishment long seen as immovable.
The vote comes just three years after the last national election, and only months after dramatic street protests forced then–Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to flee chaotic scenes in Kathmandu alongside his family.
