“New dawn in Nepal: Balen’s RSP sweep ends old order, India must grasp the generational shift”, First Post, March 10, 2026
“The Rashtriya Swatantra Party’s (RSP) electoral triumph is unprecedented in the modern history of Nepal. The tsunami that swept across Nepal is the mother of all surprises, full of shock and awe even for the victors. The Maoist victory of the 2008 elections following the decade-long insurgency is no match for the RSP’s spectacular achievement of winning 180 seats, a two-thirds majority within grasp in a legislature of 275 members.
Conspicuously, RSP has not a single member in the 59-seat Upper House. The magic mantra for this mass rousing was provided by two youthful leaders – the former anchor and TV host, Rabi Lamichhane, and the former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu, the dynamic Balen Shah. The Shah-Lamichhane wave was felt and heard from the ringing of bells (RSP election symbol) across Nepal. The craze for Balen and Rabi is despite Lamichhane being on bail and tainted with blemishes of fraud and jail terms.
RSP bagged 125 of 165 seats in First Past The Post (FPTP) in the mixed electoral system, which reserves 110 seats for Proportional Representation (PR). According to some political analysts, this is the bane of politics: preventing a single-party majority, a hypothesis which RSP has demolished. Gen Z had sought an overhaul of the electoral system, which will entail constitutional amendments to ensure political stability. RSP’s near two-thirds majority will enable alterations to the constitution if necessary……”
Read full article at firstpost.com
