Kathmandu, March 8 – The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), led by young rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah 'Balen', secured a stunning victory in the general elections, winning over two-thirds of the seats, despite the established parties facing a rout in Nepal.
Formed in 2022, the RSP won 122 out of the 165 directly elected seats in the House of Representatives election, according to the Election Commission (EC).
The EC announced the results for 159 of the 165 seats by 8:30 pm.
The EC stated that the counting of votes for the remaining six seats would be completed by Monday afternoon, as was initially planned for direct seats.
On Saturday, Balen, the RSP's 35-year-old candidate, defeated four-time Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, chair of the CPN-UML, by a significant margin of approximately 50,000 votes in the Jhapa-5 constituency.
Balen is expected to become the next Prime Minister of Nepal, reflecting the public's desire for a change from established parties. He will be the first Madhesi Prime Minister of the Himalayan nation and also the youngest to hold the top office in the country's parliamentary history.
The Nepali Congress (NC) came in second, winning 17 seats, while the CPN-UML, led by ousted Prime Minister Oli, secured only eight seats and is leading in two constituencies.
The Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), also known as NCP, won seven seats, while the Shram Sanskriti Party secured three, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) won one seat, according to the EC data.
Among the winners, independent candidate Mahabir Pun, who had resigned as the education minister in the interim government, won in Myagdi-1, beating his rivals from the CPN-UML and the NC. The RSP did not field a candidate against him.
The RSP, led by Ravi Lamichhane, secured a clean sweep of all 15 constituencies in the Kathmandu Valley.
Ravi Lamichhane, chairman of the RSP, won with a significant margin in the Chitwan-2 constituency, securing 54,402 votes against Mina Kumari Kharel of the NC, who received only 14,564 votes.
Indira Rana Magar, a former Deputy Speaker of the dissolved House of Representatives and a leader of the RSP, won in Jhapa-2 by defeating Dev Raj Ghimire, a senior leader of the CPN-UML.
Gagan Thapa, the 49-year-old president of the Nepali Congress, lost the election to Amaresh Singh of the RSP in the Dhanusha-4 constituency.
Other senior leaders of the Nepali Congress, including Guru Raj Ghimire, Shekhar Koirala, and Bimalendra Nidhi, also faced defeat.
Harka Rai, chairman of the Shram Sanskriti Party, won in Sunsari-1, defeating Goma Tamang of the RSP.
Gyanendra Shahi of the RPP defeated his closest rival, Naresh Bhandari of the NCP, in the Jumla constituency of Karnali province, making him the sole winner for the pro-monarchist party.
Former Prime Minister and NCP leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' won in Rukum Purba district, defeating Lilamani Gautam of the CPN-UML.
However, two other former Prime Ministers lost in their respective strongholds amid the RSP's success, which significantly impacted the old guard in the Himalayan nation.
"Prachanda changed his constituency time and again seeking a safer one, and this time he contested the election from the remote Rukum East, a stronghold of the former Maoist party," said Sunil Babu Pant, a former Parliament member.
The former Maoist guerrilla commander also dissolved the CPN-Maoist Centre and renamed it the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) after merging dozens of fringe parties, he pointed out.
The RSP's victory, particularly Balen's defeat of Oli, was a significant turning point, marking a shift in the political landscape of the Himalayan nation.
Another former Prime Minister, Madhav Nepal, 73, the co-coordinator of the NCP, lost in Rautahat-1 to RSP's Rajesh Kumar Chaudhari.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has directed to suspend the vote count for Dhanusha-1 in the House of Representatives election for the time being, pending a final decision from the Supreme Court (SC).
A letter issued by the EC mentions that the matter concerning the cancellation of a candidate’s nomination is currently under judicial review. As a result, the EC has instructed the office of the returning officer to halt the announcement of results until the court gives its ruling, according to EC sources.
The EC stated that the case is formally registered with the Supreme Court and that further election procedures will proceed only after the apex court issues its order. The Provincial Election Office in Dhanusha has been informed about the decision.
The issue dates back to March 3, the first day of the pre-election silence period, when the EC annulled the candidacy of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Kishori Sah 'Kamal' based on a complaint.
On the same day, Sah filed a writ petition in the SC challenging the EC’s decision.
Sah's candidacy faced cancellation after he was blacklisted by a commercial bank on a banking crime.
However, it was not just the heavyweights from the legacy political parties that faced defeats. The RSP dismantled many strongholds, pockets, and core areas of Nepal's two big parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML.
Ten office bearers of the CPN-UML, including the party's general secretary Shankar Pokharel, three vice presidents, one deputy general secretary, and four secretaries, lost the election, while more than half a dozen NC strongmen also lost the election, the EC data showed.
Gen Z, through its two-day intensified protests on September 8 and 9 last year, ousted Oli, who was heading a coalition government with the backing of the Nepali Congress.
Soon after the elections were announced, the major issues raised by Gen Z before and during the campaign became anti-corruption, good governance, an end to nepotism, generational change in political leadership, etc.
"Legacy parties failed to convince voters for whom the major issues included fighting corruption and an end to nepotism apart from a generational change in political leadership of the Himalayan nation," said Saraswatee Karmacharya, a journalist at Nepal Samacharpatra.
"And along with the parties, sank the political futures of the respective old leaders, who had resorted to musical chair politics over the last two decades. No wonder, they were rejected," she added.
The election also saw 14 women candidates emerge victorious, with as many as 13 from the RSP. One is from the NC.
The election was being closely watched by India, which is hoping for a stable government in the politically-fragile Himalayan country to take forward the developmental partnership between the two sides.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the people and government of Nepal for the successful conduct of the election.
“It is heartening to see my Nepali sisters and brothers exercise their democratic rights so vibrantly. This historic milestone is a proud moment in Nepal's democratic journey,” Modi said in a post on X.
Nepal witnessed about 60 per cent voter turnout during the March 5 election to the House of Representatives.
Of the 275 members of Parliament, 165 are being elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 through a proportionate method.
Around 3,400 candidates were vying for 165 seats under direct voting and 3,135 candidates for 110 seats through proportionate voting.
The RSP is also leading in proportional voting system with 28,53,096 votes followed by the Nepali Congress with 9,58,125 votes.
The CPN-UML has received 8,28,428 votes, the Nepali Communist Party 3,99,524, the RPP 2,05,363 and Shram Sanskriti Party 1,55,524 votes, according to the EC.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission said that all the counting under direct voting will conclude by Monday afternoon while proportionate vote counting will conclude by Wednesday morning.
“Seat allotment and certificate distribution to the candidates under proportionate voting will be completed by March 19,” the EC said.
