Nepal’s young anti-corruption protestors reportedly used the platform Discord to hold an impromptu vote to pick their first interim woman prime minister days after toppling the KP Sharma Oli government through deadly protests that spread like wildfire across the country.
The country is set to hold elections on 5 March 2026 to determine its next full-time prime minister. Till elections are held, 73-year-old Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, would be the first woman to lead the country.
The protests, fanned by dissatisfaction over the government’s ban on several popular social media platforms, soon snowballed into a wider discourse on corruption and unemployment as the Generation Z – people in their teens and 20s – took to the streets with banners and slogans. At least 51 people were killed and more than 1,300 were injured in the nationwide protests that erupted after the government tried to shut down social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, causing deep anger to boil over.
The protests turned violent as security forces used live bullets, tear gas, and batons while demonstrators toppled barricades, looted businesses, and set fire to government offices and politicians’ residences.
The protesters also burned the Singha Durbar palace, the seat of the Nepali government, and damaged airports and a TV news station building.
The prime minister and four of his ministers resigned last week, and the military took over the capital, immediately enforcing a nationwide curfew. The military relaxed the curfew for a few hours to allow people to buy supplies.
What is Discord?
After Mr Oli’s resignation and the exodus of senior political figures left a power vacuum in Nepal, activists took to the US group-chat app platform to plan their next steps, according to NDTV.
The outlet reported that one server with more than 145,000 members hosted a debate about who could be an interim leader. Over the week, multiple polls were held by representatives of the protest movement on the social media platform Discord to nominate possible leaders. Ms Karki emerged as a favourite, widely praised for her integrity.
The former chief justice is also well known for her staunch position against corruption.
“The parliament of Nepal right now is Discord,” the New York Times quoted 23-year-old content creator Sid Ghimiri as saying. The channel’s organisers are members of the civic organization Hami Nepal, with participants among those who took part in the protests, the outlet reported.
Who is Sushila Karki?
The consensus to swear in Ms Karki as the interim PM was reached between President Ramchandra Paudel, the chief of the Nepal Army, General Ashok Raj Sigdel, and representatives of Nepal’s Gen-Z protest movement.
During her time as chief justice, she oversaw several landmark cases, including the conviction of a sitting Information and Communications Minister, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta, for corruption.
She also presided over a ruling overturning the government’s appointment of a police chief.
Within a year after Ms Karki was confirmed as a permanent judge in the Nepal Supreme Court in 2016, lawmakers from the then-ruling Nepali Congress and CPN filed an impeachment motion against her, alleging bias, including over police chief appointment decisions.
The motion led to her suspension and disqualified the powerful chief of the anti-corruption watchdog, but immediately sparked public protests in favour of judicial independence.
This led to the Supreme Court halting proceedings and the withdrawal of the impeachment motion.
As one of her first acts as the interim PM, Ms Karki dissolved Nepal’s parliament and scheduled new general elections for March 2026.
Both Ms Karki and her husband, Durga Prasad Subedi, participated in Nepal’s 1990s people’s movement that brought an end to absolute monarchy in the country and eliminated the panchayat system.
She was imprisoned during the time and wrote the novel Kara based on the events.
Her husband, who was a youth leader of the Nepali Congress at the time, was also imprisoned over his alleged role in a Royal Nepal Airlines hijacking to fund the armed struggle against Nepal’s monarchy, according to several media reports.
Ms Karki’s appointment as interim PM follows a widespread anti-corruption movement across Nepal that led to the resignation of Mr Oli.
The country is gradually returning to normalcy, with police force resuming operations in Kathmandu Valley and the Supreme Court and banks in the capital to reopen in phases after suffering damage during the protests.
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