Nepal’s Power Addicts: Parliamentarians Won’t Quit

KATHMANDU – Nepal’s parliament building is still smouldering, but its lawmakers are already scheming a comeback. Like party guests who refuse to leave after the music stops, the country’s political class is clutching at whatever scraps of power remain – and gossip around the capital is buzzing.

Eight major parties – yes, the same tired brands that brought Nepal to this crisis – issued a joint statement demanding President Ram Chandra Poudel reinstate the parliament he dissolved. The twist? It was dissolved on the advice of interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki – the 73-year-old “clean hands” judge now celebrated as Nepal’s first woman PM and a darling of the Gen Z protest movement.

But the parliamentarians are in no mood to pack up. They argue “constitutionality,” but café chatter is blunter: they’re terrified of elections. After all, the Gen Z-driven “nepo kid” campaign has shredded their reputations, exposing their children’s Dubai shopping sprees and Instagrammed Lamborghinis while ordinary Nepalis queue for cooking gas.

“They want their seats back because the perks are too sweet – cars, security, pensions,” says one protester, sipping tea outside Singha Durbar. “They’d rather burn the country than lose their chairs.”

Meanwhile, Karki is trying to project calm – promising elections in March 2026, talking law and order, even keeping Gen Z leaders close. But her real headache isn’t the protesters. It’s the vultures circling from within: seasoned MPs who’ve spent decades swapping party colours like football jerseys, and who now whisper in corridors about ‘saving democracy’ when everyone knows they’re just saving themselves.

President Poudel, for his part, insists “the constitution is alive.” But the gossip in Kathmandu’s teashops cuts sharper:

“Yes, the constitution is alive. But the parliamentarians are undead.”

Nepal may have a fresh interim leader and a six-month path to elections. But as every taxi driver and TikTok live-streamer is now saying: the real danger isn’t chaos in the streets – it’s that the old guard simply won’t let go.