Stakeholders have said that multidimensional political participation is still not a priority in Nepal. They have also expressed concern that democracy has been weakened by the practice of large population not participating in elections.

This was expressed by speakers at the Intergenerational and Multidimensional Dialogue program organized by the Youth Initiative and in collaboration with the National Voters' Rights Forum (NVRF) in New Baneshwor on Tuesday.

At the program, CPN (UML) Deputy Secretary General Yogesh Bhattarai recalled that there was a discussion on the role of youth and multidimensional political participation in the previous parliament.

'What we call a majority government in a democracy is not a majority in the true sense. A large population is excluded from voting. Therefore, there should be discussions on how to include as many people as possible in politics,' he said. 'The main focus of the current government is on holding elections. Some important agendas have been left out now. However, they need to be addressed in the future.'

Former Minister for Education, Science and Technology Sumana Shrestha, Deputy Secretary General of the Federation of Nepal NGOs Kiran Thapa, and Youth and Gen-Z representative Monica Niraula also expressed the view that political participation of youth and intergenerational dialogue should be kept as a policy priority. They said that the participation of as many people as possible in the electoral process should be ensured to strengthen democracy.

In the inaugural session of the program, Youth Initiative Chairman Yogesh Kafle gave a welcome speech and said that the program was organized to bring the voice of youth to the policy-making level.

Sharu Joshi, a member of Nepal Policy Institute, gave a presentation on the voting rights of voters living outside the country and outside the district, its practicality, challenges and its relevance in the upcoming elections.