Kathmandu, Nepal – Nepal will hold crucial parliamentary elections on March 5, with the Himalayan country’s established political parties fighting not only for votes but also for legitimacy.

That legitimacy was challenged last September when thousands of young Nepalis took to the streets to demand the resignation of the old guard who had dominated Nepali politics for two decades.

Affected by the social media ban, Protests led by Generation Z Soon, economic stagnation and corruption among the ruling elite sparked a wider uprising, forcing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, 74, to resign and form an interim government.

The protests, which left at least 77 people dead, reflected public disillusionment with existing political parties, including Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), the Communist Party of Nepal, which is made up of former Maoist rebels, and the centrist Nepali Congress.

Many young Nepalis view these parties as an entitled, unresponsive political class prone to corruption.

in preparation stage vote thursdayThe parties claim they have learned lessons from last year’s uprising and pledged to do more to tackle corruption.

But young activists are unconvinced.

“We will pay attention”

For Rajesh Chand, 27, a business school student in the capital Kathmandu, voting is no longer about party labels.

“I am not interested in political parties, old or new,” he told Al Jazeera.

“What I’m interested in is how we can lead this country in the right direction. For years we’ve seen the old political system and no one did anything about it. The country is sinking. We need to stop corruption. This is where it starts.”

Rakshya Bam, 26, one of the central figures in the protests, said the debate should not be simply divided into old and new.

“We have no problem even if the old party supports our reform agenda and governs accordingly,” she said. “And for newcomers, they shouldn’t forget the essence of the Gen Z revolution.”

She noted that many political parties have incorporated the movement’s language into their manifestos. “We welcome that,” she said. “But we’ll watch.”

Few parties have been more shaken by the uprising than the Nepali Congress (NC), the country’s oldest party that was once allied with Oli’s government.

Senior National Council leader and former information minister Minendra Rijal told Al Jazeera that Oli’s “arrogance” during the uprising had seriously damaged the party’s image. “NC should never have aligned with the Oli government,” he told Al Jazeera.

But Rijal insists the party has changed. The leadership that presided over the protests, including former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, is no longer contesting the elections.

In January, the party elected 49-year-old Gagan Kumar Thapa as its new chairman and candidate for prime minister.

“We admit we made a mistake,” Rijal said. “We ask for a second chance. We have apologized loud and clear.”

But he acknowledged that voters – 30% of whom are under 40 – remain skeptical.

“When I go back to my district, I can feel the tremendous frustration,” he said. “People are demanding a clear explanation of our agenda and what went wrong.”

Ollie seeks power again

However, for Oli’s CPN-UML, the March 5 election is as much about survival as it is about revival.

Prithivi Subba Gurung, former communications minister in the Oli government, sees the contest as a battle to protect democracy.

“Our elected prime minister was deposed,” he said. “We disagree with the way this election was conducted, but as a Democratic Party we cannot condemn it. We must fight to protect democratic values.”

Gurung argued that the party has recruited younger leaders, including dozens from Generation Z. He insisted that CPN-UML “always represents the anti-corruption and good governance sentiments of Generation Z”.

However, Oli’s social media ban sparked protests and he was re-elected as party chairman and remains the party’s candidate for prime minister. Although some within the CPN-UML called for his resignation after the riots, such dissent had no effect.

Gurung believes that regulation of social media is necessary. “Companies operating in Nepal must abide by our laws and pay taxes,” he said. “Enforcement was the right thing to do, maybe the timing wasn’t right.”

Political scientist Sucheta Pyakurel said the uprising was caused by “recklessness” within the political establishment. She said mainstream parties had to have repeatedly ignored public concerns and made irresponsible decisions for frustration to escalate to this level.

“Democracy is generally a tolerant system,” she told Al Jazeera. “For citizens to become so angry, those in power must have failed them in some serious way.”

She believes that while some factions within the party now appear to be looking inward, others remain resistant to change.

“Some of the older parties have been criticizing themselves,” she told Al Jazeera. “They may be rethinking their old ways. But there are too many moving parts to predict the outcome. It’s too early to tell.”

Nepal’s hybrid electoral system – first-past-the-post and proportional representation – ultimately results in seats being divided among multiple parties, making it difficult for one party to achieve a majority.

As a result, the “musical chairs” of coalition government and power-sharing fueled public disillusionment. Since becoming a republic in 2008, Nepal has gone through 14 governments and nine prime ministers, including current interim leader Sushila Karki.

That’s why fear of renewed political instability is at the heart of Gen Z’s anxiety.

“We’re afraid that another league won’t deliver on its promises,” Bam said. “Even as a coalition, they have to work together and not let down people’s aspirations again.”

“Repackage and resell”

On Thursday, nearly 19 million Nepalis will vote for a 275-member parliament, with 165 elected through a simple majority and 110 through proportional representation. About 800,000 people are first-time voters.

These young voters have not gone unnoticed, as political parties have adapted their messages and incentives to appeal to them.

Oli’s social media ban sparked protests from Gen Z, but has now given way to promises of digital access and entrepreneurial support, including 10GB-a-month mobile internet plans for young people and $10,000 cards for young business owners.

The manifesto has been renamed the “Commitment Document” and the “Commitment Paper” – a move that critics say is an attempt to repackage politics in Gen Z-friendly language.

Political scientist Pia Kurel describes this shift as “political consumerism.”

“They’re trying to repackage and resell themselves,” she said. “These policies sound ambitious, but many do not address the structural causes of the crisis.”

Bam, a former protest leader, said electoral politics was not the only area of ​​change.

“I’m happy to see my friends participating in the election,” she told Al Jazeera. “But we will keep questioning them. They will be on our guard.”

For now, she says, she remains committed to extra-parliamentary activism. “I believe in strengthening streets.”

The tension between institutional reforms and external pressure may determine Nepal’s political future.

Meanwhile, traditional parties also see new entrants as lacking in ideology, especially rappers and former Kathmandu mayors. Barun Shahwho is the frontrunner for prime minister.

Shah, 35, relatively new to mainstream politics, has joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and is running against Oli in Jhapa-5, a Nepal Communist Party-UML stronghold about 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Kathmandu.

Despite Shah’s disdain for public speaking, he is hugely popular among Gen Z. “I don’t know how to talk; I know how to work,” he once said, taking it as a satire on the existing political establishment.

To the establishment, however, he comes across as a politician without an ideology. “Ideologies don’t come on waves of popularity. Voters should not be fooled,” Gurung told Al Jazeera. “A political party needs a strong ideology, vision and mission. His (Barron’s) party doesn’t have that.”

Piacurel also warned that parties without a coherent ideological base could easily splinter. But she also asked: Do the established parties actually live up to the ideologies they claim to have?

“We have to ask the old parties whether their actions reflect their principles,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We must ask the new parties where they stand. The voting process is incomplete without these questions.”