After a four-day power vacuum, Sushila Karki, the former chief justice of Nepal's Supreme Court, was appointed interim prime minister on Friday, September 12. She was officially sworn in late in the evening before the president, Ram Chandra Poudel. Parliament was dissolved.

Karki, age 73, now faces the daunting task of holding the country together and preparing for the next elections, scheduled for March 5, 2026. It is a task made all the more challenging after the protests of September 8 and 9 plunged Nepal into a whirlwind of violence that left 51 dead and ravaged key sites of power in Kathmandu.

Renowned for her credibility and tenacity, she is the first woman to lead the government of this Himalayan nation of 30 million people, having previously served as the first woman chief justice from 2016 to 2017. Her name emerged immediately after the resignation of Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli on September 9, who was forced out after violently suppressing a student uprising. Young activists, seeking a politically neutral figure, had put forward her name. Members of Generation Z became key agents of change in Nepal within just a few days.

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