KATHMANDU: Nepal’s election calendar is set for a major shift, with the federal, provincial, and local polls now to be held in separate phases rather than simultaneously.
The Election Commission has confirmed that the next House of Representatives elections will take place on March 5, 2026, while the provincial and local level elections will be conducted in 2027. The change follows the unexpected dissolution of the House of Representatives in the wake of the Gen-Z protests on September 8 and 9, which forced then–Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign.
With no possibility of forming a new government through Parliament, an interim administration was installed under former Chief Justice Sushila Karki. Acting on the cabinet’s recommendation, President Ram Chandra Paudel dissolved the House and announced the February polls.
Under the new arrangement, the federal government elected next year will remain in place while provincial and local elections are held. Officials say this will ensure greater stability, in contrast to previous election cycles. In 2017 and 2022, the federal and provincial elections were conducted together, often creating political uncertainty as all three levels of government were renewed almost at once while the federal term was expiring.
The provincial assembly elections are expected to be held around November 2027, five years after the last polls in November 2022. The local elections will precede them May 2027, coinciding with the expiry of the five-year terms of local bodies elected in May 2022. If the new timetable is followed, the federal parliament chosen in 2026 will serve its full term until 2031, overseeing the other two tiers of polls during its tenure.
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