By Shirish B Pradhan
Rastriya Swatantra Party’s senior leader Balendra Shah “Balen” on Saturday defeated four-time Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli by a huge margin and set to form the next government in the country, decimating traditional political parties in the first general elections since last year’s violent Gen Z protests demanding generational change and corruption-free regime.
Rapper-turned-politician Balen, the prime ministerial candidate of the RSP defeated Oli, the chair of Nepal’s legacy party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) — CPN-UML — by a huge margin of around 50,000 votes in Jhapa-5 constituency.
Balen, 35, secured 68,348 votes against 74-year-old Oli’s 18,734, the Election Commission (EC) said.
The RSP, formed just four years ago in 2022 by Ravi Lamichhane, has won 125 seats out of the 163 seats for which results have been declared by 9 pm, Monday according to the Election Commission.
RSP’s seats include a clean sweep in all 15 constituencies of Kathmandu valley’s three districts, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.
Legacy parties were far behind in convincing 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.
The Nepali Congress (NC) won 18 seats; the CPN-(UML) won 8 seats and is leading in one; the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) won 7 seats, the Shrama Shakti Party won three seats, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) won one seat, the EC data showed. Among the winners is caretaker government’s Minister for Science and Education Mahabir Pun, who contested the election as an independent candidate.
Nepal witnessed about 60 per cent voter turnout during the March 5 elections to the House of Representatives. The counting of votes started late Thursday night and was still going on. The counting of votes under first past the post (FPTP) is expected to concluded on Monday night, whereas the vote counting under proportionate voting system will wrap up by Tuesday night, said the Election Commission.
The election was being closely watched by the international community including India, and China, which are hoping for a stable government in the politically fragile Himalayan nation so that the country will move forward on the path of development and economic prosperity.
Prime Minister Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the people and government of Nepal for the successful conduct of elections. “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.
The 35-year-old engineer-turned-rapper-turned-politician is expected to be the next prime minister of Nepal, reflecting a public mood of rejection of established parties. Nepal has had 14 governments in the last 18 years. RSP chairman Lamichhane won with a huge margin from Chitwan-2 constituency, marking his third consecutive victory with 54,402 votes against his nearest rival NC’s Mina Kumari Kharel, who received 14,564 votes.
Around 3,400 candidates were vying for 165 seats under direct voting, and 3,135 candidates for 110 seats through proportionate voting.
