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TRANSCRIPT
At a brick kiln in the Nepali town of Lalitpur, labourers have started working in the dust-heavy environment from early morning to eke out their daily wages.
43-year-old labourer Shaligram Pun is one of the workers there who says they have little confidence in the outcome of the elections that have just taken place in Nepal.
“I have no hope from the government. Previously, I had placed my hope on the leaders, but they all turned out to be bloody thieves.”
For decades, the small Himalayan nation ensconced between China and India has been riven by political instability, with 32 changes in government since 1990, leaving its largely agrarian economy hamstrung and forcing millions to seek work abroad.
This ballot therefore has been seen as a test of the country's political stability six months after youth-led protests forced then-Prime Minister K-P Sharma Oli from office.
In the race are the old guard, including the centrist Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist or UML), which have dominated national politics for decades.
But most analysts say the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is at the forefront, which is led by rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah.
The former mayor of the capital city Kathmandu emerged as the face of September protests, and is going head-to-head against the UML's K.P. Sharma Oli, a four-time premier who quit following the killings of the demonstrators.
Young voter and Gen-Z activist Yujan Rajbhandari has told SBS Nepali everyone hopes that things will get better.
"The youth wants employment in the country. Youth wants, you know, good governance, service-based delivery. They don't want give bribe to someone for anything. When I say bribe, it's not just about, you know, exchange of money. It's up to the policy level. There are lots of corruption based on policy. So, youth wants the nation to be free of corruption, good governance.”
Nearly 19 million of Nepal's 30 million people have been eligible to vote in these elections to pick a 275-member legislature, of which 165 candidates are directly elected and 110 selected via proportional representation.
Around one million of Nepal’s voters -most of them youth - were added after last year's protests, which has amplified calls for overhauling Nepal's political system and reforming the economy to create formal jobs with better wages.
26-year-old Kathmandu resident Kalapana Saud says it was time for young people to have their say.
“For the past generations of our fathers and grandfathers, these old politicians have always controlled power. But they have always failed us by giving us big talks but not fulfilling them, which has continued. But Balendra Shah is different from all that, he doesn’t speak a lot, but we are confident he will work for us.”
Suzie Jyanjoju is a student and first-time voter and has expressed similar sentiments.
"The kind of change we want in Nepal, especially the young generation, we are very mature. We are very much against corruption. We are very much for us, for the people, the working class. So yeah, that pretty much sums up what we want."
But while most of the focus and conversations have centred around the young voters whose disenchantment with the old guard is likely to usher in a young leadership and hope for sweeping changes, many say that youth alone cannot complete the picture.
Kiran Buddhacharya is a 54-year-old temple priest.
"I feel Gen Z alone cannot build Nepal. They need to seek help from the older generation to build the country together. This is what I hope."
Still, Bhojraj Pokharel - an independent analyst who is also Nepal's former chief election commissioner - says the shift to young people is historic.
"This election, all the political parties, whether they are old or new, they are more focused on the youth. That is a great shift in our electoral history.”
Full nationwide tallies from the election could take several days to be produced, and a clear result remains unknown.
Even then, negotiations to form a government may drag on if - as many analysts predict - no single party secures an outright majority.
Miraj Dhungana is one of the leading voices of the Gen Z movement and has told SBS Nepali it is everyone's hope that the election results in a stable government.
"I hope the election gives us a stable government. You know, some party, it doesn't matter which, I hope they get the majority in the elections. They make their own government. They don't have to make a coalition and make a government. And I hope the government lasts for the complete five years, and that government in turn gives us good governance."
But no matter what the result is, the importance of the vote has not escaped this voter - Sanjiya Shrestha.
Sanjiya walked to the polling station despite begin visually impaired.
"Because each of our votes matter."
