Sushila Karki, a former chief justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court, is set to become the country’s interim prime minister after mass anti-corruption protests toppled the government and left more than 50 people dead.
Karki, 73, will be the first woman to lead the Himalayan nation after an agreement was reached between protest leaders and President Ram Chandra Poudel. A presidential press adviser told the BBC that Karki is due to take the oath on Friday evening following days of consultations that included legal experts. Parliament is expected to be dissolved shortly.
The protests erupted after the government announced a ban on 26 social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. Authorities lifted the ban on Monday, but demonstrations that began in response broadened into a wider anti-corruption and anti-establishment movement and had by then swelled into sustained unrest. Angry crowds set fire to parliament and government buildings in the capital, Kathmandu, on Tuesday, and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned amid the turmoil.
Security forces clashed with protesters during the demonstrations, and more than 50 people were killed in confrontations with riot police, according to reports. Nepal’s army deployed patrols on the streets of Kathmandu as the government sought to restore order following what officials have described as the worst unrest in decades.
The movement drew support from student leaders and younger activists, including those from what has been described as a "Gen Z" cohort, who had been mobilized in part by a social media campaign highlighting perceived nepotism and the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children. That "nepo kid" campaign and allegations of corruption had been circulating in the weeks before the social media ban and helped fuel broader public anger.
Karki is widely regarded as a figure of clean image and has been backed by protest leaders to head a caretaker administration tasked with stabilizing the country and preparing for the next political steps, officials said. The precise composition and mandate of the interim government were still being negotiated as consultations continued among the president, legal advisers and protest representatives.
International and domestic observers have noted the speed with which a political pact was reached after the unrest and the use of both legal and political channels to craft an interim arrangement. Officials have emphasized the need to reestablish public services and security while moving toward the dissolution of parliament and any subsequent political or electoral processes.
The unfolding events mark a significant shift in Nepal’s political landscape, with a rare mass uprising translating into an immediate change in leadership and an interim administration led by a jurist rather than a career politician. Authorities and protest leaders said they hoped the interim government would calm tensions and chart a path back to normalcy, but security deployments remained in place as the nation assessed the human and civic toll of the recent clashes.