Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Paudel has issued an ordinance enabling thousands of young voters—particularly from Generation Z—to register for the upcoming election even after the polling date has been announced. The move overturns a key restriction in the country’s voter registration law.
Under Section 4, Subsection 2(2) of Nepal’s 2017 Voter Registration Act, new voter registrations were prohibited once an election date was declared.
President Paudel, who announced March 5 as the date for the next national election on the same night he swore in Prime Minister Sushila Karki, issued the ordinance on Tuesday (September 23) to repeal this restriction.
The new provision allows voter registration within the time frame set by the Election Commission.
“We will complete voter registration first and then announce the full electoral schedule in line with the existing system,” Election Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told reporters.
Prime Minister Karki dissolved the parliament on September 12, the day she took office. Her newly appointed Home Minister Om Prakash Acharya had pledged to give previously unregistered but eligible citizens a chance to vote and announced that efforts were also underway to allow expatriate Nepalis to participate. A research team on diaspora voting has already been formed.
Many in Nepal see President Paudel’s ordinance as a major win for the country’s Gen Z population.
Their protests against corruption and weak governance helped topple the previous government and paved the way for Karki’s interim administration. With this ordinance, the same generation will now be able to shape Nepal’s political future at the ballot box.
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