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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Balen wave marks the second coming of democracy in Nepal

The Gen Z movement was a serious wave that RSP and Balen together managed to capture—the first milestone reflecting the relevance of issues-based politics.

The Balen wave has swept the fifth general election in Nepal, bringing the newbie Rastriya Swatantra Party a historical victory. Never in the country’s 17-year democratic history has any party won such a large mandate, not even the Maoists, who led a decade-long fight against the monarchy and helped lay the foundation of democracy in 2008. 

The RSP has won a total of 183 out of 275 seats in the lower house—125 under the first-past-the-post, plus 58 through proportional representation. In the lower house of 275 members, 138 seats are required for a majority, and 184 for a two-thirds majority, and RSP may have just achieved the latter.  

So far, elections in Nepal have reflected a clear regional and ethnic divide, with voters often taking the Pahadi (hills) versus Madhesh (plains) split into account while casting their votes. This would be the first election where the agenda seems to have mattered more than such divides. This will also be the first time that someone like Balendra Shah with Madhesi and Maithili roots will be the Prime Minister. Nepal has seen a few deputy prime ministers from the plains in the past, but never someone like Shah at the top—making this an election of many firsts. A few milestones have emerged from the election results. 

For Nepal watchers, Balen was a serious figure who entered a serious race for the top office. Riding the Gen Z movement and its agenda, he brought a majority of this scale to a party he had joined two months before the elections.........

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