Nepal witnessed a historic election on Thursday 5 March, when the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) led by rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, known as Balen, and ex-journalist and TV host Rabi Lamichhane secured a landslide victory, defeating traditional political forces including Nepali Congress and the communist party CPN-UML.

This marks a major win for the Gen Z movement, following the violent and deadly anti-government protests six months ago. Balen defeated by a mammoth margin former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, who has repeatedly spoken out against Gen Z. Balen has supported the Gen Z movement from the start.

Oli was prime minister during the Gen Z revolution last September and was forced to flee in an army helicopter on 9 September when protesters took to the streets following the killings of 19 youths the previous day. At least 76 people were killed and hundreds injured in less than 24 hours during the protests due to the state’s illicit use of excess force.

Balen won a crushing victory in Oli’s home constituency of Japha-5, obtaining 68,348 votes – the largest ever win in the history of Nepal’s parliamentary elections. Oli, who had previously won six elections in the constituency, attracted only 18,734 votes – a difference of 49,614 votes.

Results so far

Nepal uses a mixed voting system. Of the 275 members of the House of Representatives, 165 are elected through the first past the post (FPTP) system, with the remaining 110 elected via proportional representation (PR).

At time of writing, the results of 165 constituencies (FPTP) have been announced. The RSP, which was only founded in 2022, has won by far the most, 125 seats.

As for the PR votes, it is expected that the RSP will gain 58 seats, Nepali Congress 20, followed by the CPN-UML on 15 and the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on nine. The monarchist/nationalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the labour rights/nationalist Shram Sanskriti Party (SSP) are expected to get four seats each.

This means that the RSP is likely to get a supermajority of 183 seats, a combination of FPTP seats (125) and PR seats (58). Since the abolition of the monarchy and Nepal becoming the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in 2008, the country has had coalition governments, so this is a momentous result.

 

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As per several reports, the RSP won a landslide victory because Nepalis were seeking change. Young people in particular supported Balen’s party because they were frustrated with corruption from the old guard, but also because they support the RSP’s new ideals to develop the country, fight corruption and introduce innovative policies, and the clear communication of its vision. Voters have high expectations from the new government.

Out with the old

The three legacy parties – Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) – have shrunk to a very small size in the election.

Congress, the largest party in the previous government, emerged as the second-largest party this time with 18 seats in the direct (FPTP) election. KP Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), known as CPN-UML, won only nine seats.

The NCP, led by former three-time prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, won seven seats. He led the Marxist revolution in Nepal back in the 1990s.

The Shram Sanskriti Party (SSP), led by former mayor Harkaraj Rai, won three seats in their first parliamentary election – a surprising result. As mayor of Dharan, he helped solve the city’s water problem and started the Shramdaan movement, where citizens give voluntary labour for community projects.

Rai’s focus on clean governance and community service made him a respected figure in Nepal. Although his whole party didn’t win, he personally won, defeating the RSP candidate. His party came in fifth position.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), led by Rajendra Lingden, is the only political party that wants to restore the monarchy and the Hindu state. It had 14 seats in the last government, but won only one this time.