Some key figures about Nepal’s parliamentary election

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal is holding parliamentary elections Thursday, a year after a youth-led uprising forced out the government chosen in the last elections.

Here are some figures about the election:

The election is being held just three years after Nepal's previous national vote, following the political upheaval that led to the government’s collapse in 2025. That paved the way for an interim government, which later called for fresh elections.

Nearly 19 million people are registered to vote in Nepal, according to the Election Commission. About 966,000 are men and 924,000 are women. Another 200 voters are registered under the “others” category, which includes people who do not identify as male or female and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The number of registered voters has risen by nearly 1 million since the last parliamentary election in November 2022, as the youth-led uprising sparked greater interest in politics.

The voting age in Nepal is 18, and authorities had urged eligible young adults to register.

The youth-led uprising in September 2025 that brought down the previous government and triggered early elections has become a defining issue in the campaign.

Political parties have pledged to amplify the voices of younger voters, promising to tackle corruption and improve governance.

Voters will directly elect 165 members to the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of Parliament. The remaining 110 seats in the 275-member House will be filled through a proportional representation system, with political parties nominating lawmakers based on the share of votes each party receives.

Previous government in Nepal have largely been coalitions, with two or more parties joining forces to command a majority in the House. The country has a history of political instability, having seen 15 governments in the past two decades.

The Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) are the long-dominant political parties. However, they had been part of the government ousted last year and have faced public dissatisfaction. The National Independent Party, formed in 2022, has drawn significant support on the campaign trail. Former Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah, also an ex-rapper, is its candidate for prime minister.

FILE - Staff members prepare for the upcoming general election scheduled for March 5, at the Election Commission in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

FILE - A staff member checks a voter list before distribution to various regions across the country for the upcoming general election scheduled for March 5, at the Election Commission in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

FILE - Election Commission staff inspect ballot boxes before loading onto a vehicle for delivery to various regions across the country ahead of the March 5 general election in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

Nepalese police officers check a list showing their postings as they prepare to depart for duty in various regions ahead of the upcoming election in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, file)

FILE - A man carries ballot boxes to load onto a vehicle for delivery to various regions across the country ahead of the March 5 general election, at election commission in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month.

The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice. The U.S. State Department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar and Jordan as a precaution.

Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning, with witnesses describing hearing aircraft overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. And in Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group, and said its soldiers are “operating in southern Lebanon.” Explosions could be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possibly prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.

Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes. Recent targets include two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a drone impact near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company said Tuesday. Iran has also hit energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.

“The Strait of Hormuz is closed," declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, threatening to set fire to any ships attempting to transit. “Don’t come to this region.”

The U.S. State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remain stranded. It also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family from the UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” He later added that the U.S. had a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and pre-positioned “high grade weaponry.”

“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” he wrote on social media.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. On Tuesday, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported airstrikes killed 13 Iranian troops in Kerman, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast from Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed 52 people in Lebanon.

“Military escalation would force more families from their homes and hit civilians hard,” said Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization on Migration, calling for the international community to press for de-escalation. “Millions are already displaced in the region.”

The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. All six were Army soldiers in a logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely.

Iranian state TV said strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, but said no one was injured.

Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.

“Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said.

Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”

Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.

Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs in an interview broadcast late Monday on Fox News Channel’s Hannity.

“We had to take the action now and we did,” said Netanyahu, who offered no evidence to support his claim.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 U.S. strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.

The conflict has also spread to Lebanon, where the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.

At least 52 people have been killed and 154 wounded, Lebanese authorities said.

Israel hit Beirut with more airstrikes early Tuesday morning, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.”

Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.

An Iranian-linked militant in Iraq has also claimed strikes on U.S. military facilities there. The Israeli military said its troops operating in southern Lebanon were positioned at several points near the border in what it described as a “forward defense posture.”

It said the deployment is part of a broader effort to increase security for residents in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. It has also beefed up troops and air defenses in the area.

The army said there are no plans to evacuate Israeli residents of border areas.

David Rising in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report. Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Magdy reported from Cairo.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)