After a week of violence and chaos, Nepal has a new interim leader in the former Supreme Court chief justice, Sushila Karki. But Ms Karki, who made her name as a champion of justice unafraid to take on powerful politicians when she wore the robe in court, now faces a series of challenges that no gavel can resolve. Nepal has announced fresh elections in March, giving her an unenviable six months to govern. It is a time too short to bring about meaningful changes in a country battered by decades of corruption, nepotism and deep inequality, yet a period long enough to shape how she will be remembered. As with all leaders in her position — including Bangladesh’s interim head of government, the Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus — Ms Karki has no mandate of her own. She was selected through a vote on Discord, a social media platform popular among gamers, by less than 0.0003% of Nepal’s population. Supporters of the process argue that it is better than the opaque, give-and-take politics that often decides who becomes prime minister in complex and fractured polities like Nepal’s. But she will always face questions about her legitimacy.
Ms Karki’s selection by Gen Z protesters also represents an admission of their movement’s limitations. The protesters have repeatedly highlighted their generational difference with the country’s much older mainstream leaders. However, they could not find a young, consensual leader to replace K.P. Sharma Oli. Ms Karki is 73, as is Mr Oli. Now, Nepal faces a complex political dynamic where Ms Karki, a strong personality, is officially in power, but her authority stems from a band of protesters who will want to direct her government from behind the scenes so that it follows the path their movement wants to pursue. Yet what that path is remains unclear: beyond broad demands to fight corruption, bring in transparency and introduce electoral reforms, Nepal’s youth movement has not, so far, articulated tangible and clear demands, leave alone a roadmap towards the future. Unlike in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which witnessed similar protests that uprooted governments, Nepal’s young agitators were not opposing only the leaders in power — they want to punish all mainstream political parties. Who replaces them, if the protesters have their way, is uncertain too. For India, that means likely prolonged uncertainty to its north. And for young Nepalis, the removal of Mr Oli marks only the start of their struggle for a better future.