Nepal caught fire to Parliament and elected Prime Minister on Discord. “Welcome to the future”

Unpublished Revolution, to the Fashion of Generation Z. Fourth of traditional politics, Nepalese chose new leader of the country in an online vote, shortly after laying down the government on the streets.

Say, do you remember? Dancin’ in September? Like Earth, Wind & Fire, Nepalese will surely never forget the September they are living.

At least 72 people died And hundreds were injured at the hands of security forces during riots that led to the fall of the government on September 9, on charges of continuous corruption. The country (including Parliament itself) was burning last week after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, leader of the 14th government since 2008, had fired.

In the eyes of much of the about 30 million Nepalese, traditional politics has never resulted before and since the monarchy was abolished 17 years ago. Now, in the face of a literally runaway country, generation Z, protagonist of the protests, has carried out something never before seen in an electoral democracy: resorted to Discord (Free US Message and Videochhamados, Skype style platform, widely used by gamers) to choose the country’s next leader-and so it happened.

The application was one by the government, earlier this month, in a movement that also censored access to Instagram, X, Youtube and other platforms, under the premise that they did not collaborate with justice in combating online abuse, namely fraud.

The highly radical experience led to an allegedly democratic, transparent and direct choice: Sushila Karkiformer President of the Supreme Court of Nepal, assumed the position of First Minister on Friday.

The initiative was organized by the group Hami Nepallinked to generation Z and responsible for the protests, which has over 160,000 members. Through the Discord “Youth Against Corruption” channel, more than 10,000 people participated in an intense debate about the country’s future, with YouTube broadcast to about 6,000 others who failed to access the platform.

“Many of us [no grupo do Discord] We did not know what it meant to dissolve Parliament or form an interim government, but we were asking questions, getting answers from experts and trying to find out together ”advances A 25 -year -old protester, who has a degree in law, who joined the debate on the social network.

After hours of discussion, with contacts, in real time, established with potential candidates for chief executive, there virtual votewhich allowed a real -time decision that culminated in the 73 -year -old Karki selection, known for the efforts to combat corruption for the position.

“I didn’t want to come here“It later admitted the new leader of the country, in a speech directed to the nation:” My name was brought from the streets. “

“We will not be [no cargo] more than six months in no situation. We will fulfill our responsibilities and commit to deliver them to the next parliament and the next ministers, ”said Karki.

The unprecedented feature of Discord brought, of course, challenges and concerns. The platform opens doors to manipulation by infiltrated users or the use of multiple accounts to influence votes. To combat misinformation, the organizers have created a subspace on the platform dedicated to FACT-CHECKING, where they have already denied rumors about meetings between protests and political figures or citizenship of participants.

But “this is the future,” believes the journalist Pranaya Rana. “AfterWe had continued on the days of discourses on stages with microphones or get used to freely online platforms. ”

“It is much more egalitarian than a physical forum to which many may not have access. Because it is virtual and anonymous, people can also say whatever they want without fear of retaliation.”justifies.

The general elections were scheduled for March.