Country profile
Nepal
Asia · Southern Asia
NP · NPL
- Capital
- Kathmandu
- Population
- 29,911,840
- Area
- 147,181 km²
- Democracy index
- 71
- Regime type
- Fragmented Democracy
Events
Ballots from Nepal
The latest elections, referendums, and opinion polls from Nepal. Community totals are not official results.
No published ballots yet
No public ballots yet
Check back later or explore the global feed.
Classification
Democracy profile
The score and regime label are assigned by Porto Voto using our in-house democracy index and classification framework, not ratings from governments or external agencies.
Democracy index
71/100
Regime type
Fragmented Democracy
Nepal operates as a competitive multi party democracy that has recently undergone a major political realignment, marked by a historic election landslide that elevated Balendra Shah as the country's youngest prime minister in late March 2026. This electoral shift underscores the functional capacity of Nepal's democratic systems to facilitate peaceful transfers of power and reflects strong public desire to replace the traditional political guard with new leadership. The state protects core civil liberties, and media pluralism remains vibrant, though under pressure from fluid regulatory standards. However, the democratic framework strains under severe structural friction, deep political polarization, and persistent governance challenges. The new executive faces immediate pressure to deliver on anti corruption mandates and maintain security following historical protest violence, while also managing delicate trilateral border diplomacy with India and China over disputed territory like the Lipulekh Pass. While institutional pathways remain intact and open to public contestation, systemic administrative inefficiencies and deep seated political volatility keep the system within the fragmented category.
Last evaluation:
How we classify regimes →World Factbook
Country background
A concise introduction to Nepal, together with notes on how power and law are organized, to put local ballots in context.
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the principality of Gorkha united many of the other principalities and states of the sub-Himalayan region into a Nepali Kingdom. Nepal retained its independence after the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16, and the subsequent peace treaty laid the foundations for two centuries of amicable relations between Britain and Nepal. In 1951, the Nepali monarch ended the century-old system of hereditary rule and instituted a cabinet system that brought political parties into the government.
That arrangement lasted until 1960, when political parties were again banned, but it was reinstated in 1990 with the establishment of a multiparty democracy within the framework of a constitutional monarchy. A Maoist-led insurgency broke out in 1996. During the ensuing 10-year civil war between Maoist and government forces, the monarchy dissolved the cabinet and parliament.
In 2001, Crown Prince DIPENDRA first massacred the royal family and then shot himself. His uncle GYANENDRA became king, and the monarchy reassumed absolute power the next year. A peace accord in 2006 led to the promulgation of an interim constitution in 2007.
After a nationwide Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2008, the newly formed CA declared Nepal a federal democratic republic, abolished the monarchy, and elected the country's first president. When the CA failed to draft a Supreme Court-mandated constitution, then-Prime Minister Baburam BHATTARAI dissolved the CA. An interim government held elections in 2013, in which the Nepali Congress (NC) won the largest share of seats.
In 2014, NC formed a coalition government with the second-place Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML). Nepal's new constitution came into effect in 2015, at which point the CA became the Parliament and Khagda Prasad Sharma OLI the first post-constitution prime minister (2015-16). He resigned ahead of a no-confidence motion, and Parliament elected Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) leader Pushpa Kamal DAHAL as prime minister.
The parties headed by OLI and DAHAL ran in coalition and swept the parliamentary elections in 2017, and OLI was sworn in as prime minister in 2018. OLI's efforts to dissolve parliament and hold elections were declared unconstitutional in 2021, and the opposition-supported NC leader Sher Bahadur DEUBA was named prime minister. The NC won a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections in 2022, but DAHAL then broke with the ruling coalition and partnered with OLI and the CPN-UML to become prime minister.
DAHAL's first cabinet lasted about two months, until OLI withdrew his support over disagreements about ministerial assignments. In early 2023, DAHAL survived a vote of confidence and formed a coalition with the NC to remain prime minister.