Balen Sets Nepal Parliament Dissolution as Condition to Join Govt
Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah! (Image X.com)
As youth leaders float names for interim leadership, including ex-Chief Justice Sushila Karki, Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah insists Parliament must go before he joins any incoming government.
By TRH Global Affairs Desk
NEW DELHI, September 10, 2025 — Nepal’s political fault lines deepened on Wednesday as Gen Z activists and aspiring leaders clashed over the shape of an interim government, even as Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah’s call for fresh elections reverberated across the country.
In a bold appeal, Balen argued that Nepal was at “an unprecedented turning point,” urging an interim administration tasked solely with holding elections and handing over power to a new generation. “Either preserve the old system or build a new nation,” he said, warning that the streets would not stay silent if reforms were cosmetic.
But consensus over who should lead such an administration has already triggered fresh unrest. According to an AIR report, a few Gen Z representatives in Kathmandu’s Jangi Adda floated the name of former Chief Justice Sushila Karki to head the interim government. By evening, however, chants of protest erupted, with youth demonstrators rejecting the proposal as out of step with their aspirations.
The political marketplace in Bhadrakali grew busier as other figures staked their claims. Dharan’s Mayor Harka Raj Sampang Rai and businessman-turned-activist Durga Parsai were seen in meetings with Nepali Army Chief Ashokraj Sigdel. Parsai, however, downplayed the speculation, saying he merely discussed the broader situation and stressed that any civilian government must be broadly acceptable.
Meanwhile, Balen’s own name surfaced across social media as a popular candidate of choice among younger Nepalis. Yet, according to sources, he has set a firm condition: Parliament must be dissolved before he considers joining any interim arrangement.
The standoff highlights Nepal’s deepening democratic crisis — torn between the establishment’s instinct to recycle old faces and Gen Z’s impatience for systemic overhaul. Whether the youth-led surge translates into real structural change, or fizzles into another round of elite bargaining, may decide the fate of the republic.
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