Executive Summary

As political parties unveil their manifestos, Nepal does not lack promises. It lacks a blueprint for building. Elections have become contests in declaring outcomes—higher incomes, more jobs, faster growth—without specifying the institutional systems required to produce them. Manifestos should answer three disciplined questions: what must be built, what must be fixed, and what must be restrained. Instead, they have functioned as declarations detached from execution. This paper asks political parties not merely to promise prosperity, but to specify what they must build—and what they must stop doing—for prosperity to emerge.

Nepal’s failure to advance living standards and expand everyday opportunity is widespread and structural. It is a failure to build systems that convert national strengths into prosperity. For decades, elections have been dominated by what this paper calls “moon-promises”—pledges not grounded in institutional capability or accountability. Because political actors face few consequences for non-delivery, manifestos have become exercises in exaggeration rather than credible plans.

The economic consequences are stark. Nepal’s per capita income, once comparable to India and China in 1980, has since fallen far behind. Weak job creation has forced millions to seek work abroad, turning migration into the economy’s primary adjustment mechanism rather than a choice. Education has expanded enrollment but failed to produce employable skills. National savings, largely driven by remittances, remain underutilized. Hydropower potential remains unrealized, productivity is among the lowest globally, and corruption continues to erode institutional credibility. The result is an economy that consumes but does not build.

These outcomes reflect deeper institutional failures: low national ambition, misplaced priorities expressed as lip service to economic growth, weak rule of law, and a political system that rewards rhetoric over results. Power remains discretionary rather than rule-bound, discouraging skill formation, productive investment, enterprise growth, and long-term planning. Manifestos, rather than correcting these failures, have often reinforced them by prioritizing promises over systems.

Nepal’s path forward requires rebuilding the “conversion systems” that translate effort into prosperity. This means creating jobs at home by treating workers as national assets; aligning education with employable skills; channeling capital toward productive enterprise; integrating electricity into job-creating sectors; enabling private enterprise under predictable rules; and restoring institutional credibility through enforceable governance. Political actors must also exercise restraint—avoiding promises that bypass institutional reality and committing instead to building systems that make progress reliable.                                           

Ultimately, Nepal’s challenge is not technical but political and moral. Prosperity will not emerge from louder promises but from institutions that constrain power, reward performance, and convert effort into progress. The choice is clear: continue performing hope through promises of moons, or construct prosperity through systems that build. The choice is ours—and the consequences will be ours as well.

Executive Summary

Nepal’s electoral system faces significant challenges in accommodating its large diaspora estimated at over 2.5 million citizens abroad for employment with accumulated one million undocumented in India and others part of the world, one million as permanent residents, 100,000 for Education and internal migrants, who often cannot return to their home constituencies on Election Day. This report, “Enhancing Nepal’s Electoral System: Alternative Voting System for Nepal,” argues that adopting a hybrid model of Internet Voting (i-Voting) and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) is essential to foster inclusive democracy, boost voter turnout, and align with the Supreme Court’s 2018 directive mandating overseas voting rights. With elections less than five months away, the authors emphasize the urgency of leveraging digital tools over unreliable postal systems, drawing on global best practices to propose feasible, secure reforms tailored to Nepal’s socio-economic context.

Key insights highlight the limitations of traditional voting and the viability of alternatives. Globally, countries like the United States and United Kingdom rely on absentee ballots and early voting with robust security measures such as signature verification and audits, while India restricts absentee options but demonstrates EVM efficacy for large-scale elections. In i-Voting, Mexico’s 2024 system for its 12 million diaspora uses blind signatures and homomorphic encryption for anonymity and integrity; Estonia’s mature platform, with over 50% online votes in 2023, emphasizes PKI and re-voting for coercion resistance; and Pakistan’s NOVS for 9 million expatriates integrates biometric authentication despite scalability issues. For Nepal, the proposed system enables internal migrants to vote via multi-constituency urban EVMs or i-Voting portals, authenticated by e-passports or National IDs, while overseas voters register through embassies or online for remote access. Additional features include a “None of the Above” (NOTA) option to express dissent, real-time voter synchronization to prevent fraud, and partnerships with vendors like Smartmatic for ready-made platforms.

Policy implications are actionable and cost-conscious. Estimated at USD 10-15 million for i-Voting and NPR 64-70 crore for EVMs (60% cheaper than paper ballots long-term), implementation could save billions over cycles. A roadmap outlines establishing a dedicated ECN department by October 2025, infrastructure development by December, awareness campaigns through March 2026, and piloting in March. Challenges like cybersecurity risks, digital divides, and political resistance require international collaborations, legal amendments to the Election Act, and public education. Ultimately, these reforms could empower remitters contributing 33% of GDP, enhance transparency, and set a regional precedent for resilient democracy, urging immediate government action to enfranchise marginalized voters.