Are the people of Kathmandu in a mood for change or will they continue to plump for candidates from established parties in the upcoming local elections? The capital city, the country’s most educated place, supposedly has the most discerning voters in the country, who will choose their mayors and deputy-mayors based on their personal qualities rather than their political affiliations.

Political experts are not so sure. For them, the contest in Kathmandu will continue to be determined by those voting along partisan lines. So even though Keshav Staphit, the CPN-UML candidate for mayor, is now implicated in multiple sexual harassment cases, he is still the frontrunner.

“I would have guaranteed Sthapit for mayor had he not been charged with #MeToo,” says political analyst Bishnu Dahal. Neck and neck with Staphit will be Srijana Singh of Nepali Congress. The wife of Prakash Man Singh, a powerful Congress leader, is predicted to brush off charges of nepotism.

But then independent candidates like Balen Shah (structural engineer, rapper) and Bibeksheel Sajha’s Samikchya Baskota (lawyer) could have something to say about that. Any way you look at it, Kathmandu’s mayoral race promises to be a riveting affair.

Full story here: Evaluating the main mayoral candidates of Kathmandu