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The politics of Nepal functions within the framework of a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and their cabinet, while legislative power is vested in the Parliament. The country has a ceremonial president, who is indirectly elected by an electoral college comprising the Federal Parliament of Nepal and the provincial assemblies of each of Nepal's seven provinces, who themselves are all directly elected. The president is the head of state and commander-in-chief. The country also has a vice president. Between 1768 and 2008, the country was called the Kingdom of Nepal.
Modern Nepal was unified in 1768 by Prithvi Narayan Shah, who then established the Shah dynasty. The Kot massacre in 1846 led to over a century of Rana dynasty rule and largely relegated the Shah dynasty to a figurehead. After the 1951 Nepalese revolution, democracy was briefly introduced, but the Mahendra of Nepal replaced it with a party-less Panchayat system. After the 1990 Nepalese revolution, the country became a constitutional monarchy. Finally, after years of civil war and the 2001 royal massacre, the monarchy was abolished in 2008 under the Gyanendra of Nepal following the 2006 Nepalese revolution, with the country becoming a federal democratic republic. A new constitution was adopted in 2015. In 2017, Nepal held its first general election since the end of the civil war, in which the Nepal Communist Party (a short-lived merger of the UML and Maoist-Centre) won a majority at the federal level as well as in six of the seven provinces. Since the 1990s, politics in Nepal were dominated by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and the Nepali Congress. The majority of Nepal's political parties espouse democratic socialism, while some are officially centrist and a few are centre-right. After the 2025 Nepalese Gen Z protests, Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigned, leading to demands for an interim government. Following consultations, Sushila Karki was selected as the interim Prime Minister, becoming the first woman in Nepal’s history to hold the position. At her request, President Ram Chandra Paudel dissolved the Parliament of Nepal, leading to the 2026 general election, which was won by the Rastriya Swatantra Party of former Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah.
while the 2018 Polity data series considers it to be a democracy. According to the 2023 V-Dem Democracy indices Nepal was the 7th most electorally democratic country in Asia.
History
Dynasticism
The four noble families to be involved in the active politics of the Kingdom of Nepal before the rise of the Rana dynasty were the Shah dynasty, the Basnyat family, the Pande dynasty and the Thapa dynasty. At the end of 18th century, the Thapas and the Pandes had extreme dominance over Nepalese Darbar politics, alternatively contesting for central power with one another. Early politics in the Kingdom of Nepal was characterised by factionalism, conspiracies and murders, including two major massacres. After almost a century of power-wrangling among the Basnyat, Pande and Thapa families, the military leader Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerged on top in the aftermath of the Kot massacre, and established the Rana dynasty in 1846, which consolidated powers of the king and prime minister and would reign for another century with a policy of oppression and isolationism.
20th century
By the 1930s, Nepali expatriates in India had started smuggling in writings on political philosophies, which gave birth to a vibrant underground political movement in the capital, birthing Nepal Praja Parishad in 1939, which was dissolved only two years later, following the execution of the four great martyrs. Around the same time, Nepalis involved in the Indian Independence Movement began organising into political parties, leading to the birth of the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal. Following Indian independence, Nepali Congress was successful in overthrowing the Rana regime with support from the Indian government and cooperation from the king. While communism was still trying to find its footing, Nepali Congress enjoyed overwhelming support of the electorate. Following a brief ten-year exercise in democracy, the autocratic Panchayat system was initiated, this time by the King, who deposed the democratically elected government of Nepali Congress, imprisoned or exiled prominent leaders and issued a ban on party politics. BP Koirala was released from prison in 1968 and went into exile in Benaras, returning in 1976 only to immediately be put in house arrest. A general referendum was held in 1980, which saw the CPN ML campaign for the option of multi-party democracy, along with Nepali Congress, but the Panchayat System was declared the winner to significant controversy. The United Left Front became CPN UML.
Following the political consensus to draft the new constitution of the Republic via a constituent assembly, Nepali politics saw a rise in nationalist groups and ideologies. While the political power-wrangling caused continuous instability, maintaining the established average of nine months per government, this period saw two constituent assembly elections and the rise of Madhesi nationalist parties, especially in the Eastern Terai region. By 2015, the new constitution had been promulgated and Nepal became "a federal democratic republic striving towards democratic socialism". In 2017, a series of elections were held according to the new constitution, which established Nepal Communist Party (NCP) (formally united after the election) as the ruling party at the federal level as well as six of the seven provinces, Nepali Congress as the only significant opposition in federal and provincial levels, while the Madhesi coalition formed the provincial government in Province No. 2, but boasts negligible presence in the rest of the country. After the adoption of the new constitution, Nepalese politics were dominated by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, KP Sharma Oli, and Sher Bahadur Deuba, who all dominated House of Representatives elections between 2017 and 2026. In municipal politics, rapper Balen Shah became the first independent candidate to be elected mayor of Kathmandu in 2022.
In September 2025, a ban on numerous social media platforms was met by widespread protests that also came to be directed against corruption by ruling politicians. On the 9th of September, Oli resigned as the prime minister. Former chief justice Sushila Karki was sworn in as interim prime minister on 12 September, the first woman in the role. Nepal's 2026 general election was a major realignment, with Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party surging and forming a majority government, a first in 1991. On 27 March 2026, Balendra Shah was sworn in as Nepal's prime minister.
Political parties
Federal Parliament
The Parliament of Nepal (Sansad) has two chambers: the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha) has 275 members elected for five-year term in single-seat constituencies. The National Assembly (Rashtriya Sabha) has 59 members, 8 from each state and the remaining 3 from the private concern of the government.
House of Representatives
Recent election results (2026): The Rastriya Swatantra Party won landslide victory with 182 seats under the Prime Ministerial candidate of Balendra Shah. The election was held after the September's country wide gen-z protest.
National Assembly
Current composition as of 2026:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Category
!Name
! colspan="2" |Party
!Assumed office
!Class
!Portfolio & Responsibilities
|-
! colspan="7" |Koshi Province
|-
|Open
|Sunil Bahadur Thapa
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Gopal Basnet
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|Krishna Prasad Sitaula
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
- Parliamentary party leader of Nepali Congress
|-
|Women
|Roshni Meche
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Jayanti Rai
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Rukmini Koirala
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Somannath Portel
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Madhesh Province
|-
|Open
|Mahantha Thakur
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Mohammad Khalid
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|Ananda Prasad Dhungana
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Women
|Rekha Kumari Jha
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Urmila Aryal
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Pooja Chaudhary
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Dharmendra Paswan
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Ranjit Karna
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Bagmati Province
|-
|Open
|Prem Prasad Dangal
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Krishna Prasad Paudel
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|Jit Jung Basnet
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Women
|Gita Devkota
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Goma Devi Timilsina
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Bishnu Devi Pudasaini
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Ghanashyam Rijal
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Shrikrishna Adhikari
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Gandaki Province
|-
|Open
|Jagat Timilsina
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Suresh Ale Magar
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|Kiran Babu Shrestha
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Women
|Samjhana Devkota
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Kamala Panta
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Manrupa Sharma
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Bhuwan Sunar
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Padma Bahadur Pariyar
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Lumbini Province
|-
|Open
|Chandra Bahadur K.C.
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Yubaraj Sharma
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|Jhakku Prasad Subedi
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Women
|Ram Kumari Jhakri
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Rajya Laxmi Gaire
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Vishnu Kumari Sapkota
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Tul Prasad Bishwakarma
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Basudev Ghimire
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Karnali Province
|-
|Open
|Lalit Jung Shahi
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Udaya Bohara
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|Krishna Bahadur Rokaya
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Women
|Sumitra BC
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Meena Singh Rakhal
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Savitri Malla
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Bishnu BK
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Nara Bahadur Bista
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Sudurpashchim Province
|-
|Open
|Khamma Bahadur Khati
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Open
|Narayan Dutta Mishra
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Open
|
|
|
|
|3
|
|-
|Women
|Lila Kumari Bhandari
|
|9 March 2026
|1
|
|-
|Women
|Madan Kumari Shah
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|Women
|Renu Chand
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
|Dalit
|Jagat Parki
|
|4 March 2022
|2
|
|-
|With Disability<br/>or Ethnic Minority
|Narayan Bhatta
|
|4 March 2024
|3
|
|-
! colspan="7" |Nominated
|-
|
|
|
|
|
|1
|
|-
|
|Narayan Dahal
|
|12 April 2022
|2
|
- Chair of the National Assembly
|-
|
|Anjan Shakya
|
|18 April 2024
|3
|
|}
Judicial branch
The judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court (सर्बोच्च अदालत), Appellate courts, and various District courts. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by president on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council; the other judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial Council.
Nepal's judiciary is legally separate from the executive and legislative and has increasingly shown the will to be independent of political influence. The judiciary has the right of judicial review under the constitution.
Different levels of governments
Federal government
The executive is headed by prime minister while president remains head of state. Nepal has provision for executive prime minister per the present Constitution of Nepal. The role of president is largely ceremonial as the functioning of the government is managed entirely by the prime minister who is appointed by the Parliament.
Provincial government
As per the Constitution of Nepal, there are 7 provinces in Nepal with their own provincial government and assemblies.
Municipal/local government
As per the Constitution of Nepal, there are 753 local levels, Rual municipalities and municipalities which are referred to as the village executive and municipal executive respectively. The district assembly is governed by the District Coordination Committee.
International participation
The following is a list of international organisations that Nepal participates in:
AsDB, MINA, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, Group of 77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, International Development Association, IFAD, International Finance Corporation, IFRCS, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, International Maritime Organization, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IPC, IOM, International Organization for Standardization (correspondent), ITU, MONUC, Non-Aligned Movement, OPCW, SAARC, United Nations, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNTAET, UPU, World Federation of Trade Unions, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, CPC Nepal (applicant).
See also
- Elections in Nepal
- Censorship in Nepal
Notes
References
Works cited
Further reading
- Devendra, Jonathan (2013). Massacre at the Palace: The Doomed Royal Dynasty of Nepal. New York: Hyperion. .
External links
- The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063 (2007)
- The Constitution of The Kingdom of Nepal, 2047 (1990) (terminated by the Interim Constitution)