Who is contesting Nepal's polls and what is at stake?

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Nepal will hold a national election next month, its first since deadly youth-led anti-graft protests toppled the government of then-Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli in September.

As the Himalayan nation prepares for the March 5 polls, here is a look at the key contenders, and what is at stake.

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THE VOTERS

Nearly 19 million of Nepal’s 30 million people are eligible to vote in the March 5 election for the 275-member assembly.

About one million of the voters - most of them youth - were added after last year’s protests, which killed 77 people and injured more than 2,000.

While direct contests will decide 165 seats, which means the person who gets the most votes will win, the rest will be filled through proportional representation, where seats are allocated to parties in proportion to their vote share.

Election authorities say 65 political parties are in the fray.

ISSUES AT STAKE

Apart from corruption, job creation is among the main issues, analysts say, with about a fifth of the population living in poverty, and high youth unemployment.

Ties with India and China, which border Nepal and are among its major trade partners, will also be a factor in the election as the landlocked nation negotiates a balance between the Asian powers.

While India accounts for two-thirds of Nepal’s international trade, China accounts for 14% and has also lent the country - among the world’s poorest - more than $130 million, according to the World Bank.

KEY CONTENDERS

Rapper-turned-politician and former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, 35, of the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party is among the frontrunners for prime minister.

Facing him in the Jhapa 5 constituency is four-time prime minister Oli, 74, of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), vying for the top post again but facing an uphill battle to win back young voters who ousted him barely six months ago.

Other contenders include the centrist Nepali Congress party’s 49-year-old Gagan Thapa and three-time prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 71, who now leads the Nepali Communist Party.

Oli has been a liberal communist since the 1990s while Dahal led a bloody Maoist insurgency for a decade before joining mainstream politics in 2006.

Compiled by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

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