Nepal’s interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Sunday said she will govern by the demands of the very generation that brought her to power.
“We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation. … What this group is demanding is end of corruption, good governance and economic equality,” said Karki, in her first public comments since assuming office on Friday.
The 73-year-old Karmi, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court, took office after a week of youth-led demonstrations forced out her predecessor K.P. Sharma Oli.
Karki, appointed after two days of negotiations between President Ram Chandra Paudel, army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel, and representatives of the youth protest movement, said she would not extend her tenure beyond six months.
“We will not stay here more than six months in any situation, we will complete our responsibilities and pledge to hand over to the next Parliament and ministers,” she said.
Parliament has been dissolved, with fresh elections scheduled for March 5, 2026.
The protests, which began Monday, tapped into long-standing frustrations over unemployment, corruption and inequality in Nepal, where one in five people aged 15-24 are out of work, according to the World Bank.
Thousands of young demonstrators coordinated on the Discord app, naming Karki as their choice of interim leader.
“The situation that I have come in, I have not wished to come here. My name was brought from the streets,” Karki acknowledged.
On Sunday, she observed a minute’s silence for those killed in the unrest before her first meeting at Singha Durbar, the government complex where several buildings were torched during mass protests.
Karki now faces the immediate task of restoring order while showing responsiveness to protesters’ demands.
“You and I have to be determined to fulfil that,” she said of the push for anti-corruption reforms and economic justice.
President Paudel, who swore Karki into office on Saturday, said a “peaceful solution has been found through a difficult process.”
