Rastriya Swatantra Party Leads in Nepal's General Election Amid Political Shift

Rastriya Swatantra Party Takes Charge

The Rastriya Swatantra Party has emerged as a frontrunner in Nepal's general election, with vote counting ongoing as of Friday.

As of Friday morning, the three-year-old party was reported to be leading in 70 parliamentary seats.

It marked its first electoral success in the Kathmandu-1 constituency, where candidate Ranju Neupane triumphed over Prabal Thapa of the Nepali Congress by a margin exceeding 9,000 votes.

Balendra Shah, a rapper-turned-politician and the party's candidate for prime minister, was ahead of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli by over 10,000 votes in the Jhapa-5 seat. Shah, aged 35, previously served as the mayor of Kathmandu.

The election, which aimed to fill 275 parliamentary seats, took place on Thursday, recording a voter turnout of 58%.

Out of the total seats, 165 will be filled through direct voting, while the remaining seats will be allocated based on proportional representation, allowing parties to nominate lawmakers according to their vote share.

Election Commission officials indicated that the final results might take up to a week to be announced, as counting for proportional representation votes is expected to be time-consuming.

This election marks the first general election in Nepal following the significant protests in September that led to the ousting of the Oli government.

As per the latest counting trends, the Nepali Congress, which nominated 49-year-old Gagan Thapa as its prime ministerial candidate, was leading in eight seats.

Oli's Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) was ahead in six seats, while the Nepali Communist Party, led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, was leading in three constituencies.

The unrest that resulted in Oli's removal began after protests erupted over a ban on 26 social media platforms on September 4.

Although the ban was lifted on September 8, the protests escalated into a larger movement against perceived corruption and mismanagement, leading to Oli's resignation the following day.

At least 72 individuals lost their lives during the protests, which were largely driven by the younger generation, often referred to as 'Gen Z'.

On September 12, Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, was appointed as interim prime minister until a new government is established.

In total, over 3,400 candidates from 65 different parties participated in the general election held on Thursday.