By Bumjoon Park
On 5 March, Nepalese citizens voted in a general election to elect all 275 members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Federal Parliament. The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), led by former Kathmandu mayor Balendra (Balen) Shah, is set to form a majority government. The relatively young party, founded in 2022, won 125 direct-vote seats and 57 proportional representation seats, just two seats short of a two-thirds supermajority.
Backdrop
The ‘Gen-Z’ anti-government protests by youths against corruption and a social media ban led to deadly clashes and the resignation of former Prime Minister (PM) Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli in September 2025, necessitating new elections. Clashes occurred between rival party supporters during the campaign period.
Security was heightened nationwide in the lead-up to and during the elections. Authorities mobilised at least 79,727 army personnel across the country to guard polling stations. Vehicle movement was prohibited on 4–5 March, while the Nepal-India border was temporarily closed.
Projected outcome
Nepal’s politics have traditionally been dominated by rivalries and power-sharing between major parties and leaders. Due to Nepal’s mixed electoral system, it has historically been very difficult for any party to secure an absolute majority. Most recently, Oli from the Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), Pushpa Kamal Dahal from the Communist Party of Nepal–Maoist Centre (CPN-MC) and former Nepali Congress (NC) leader Sher Bahadur Deuba took turns heading the government each year until Oli resigned.
The RSP victory, along with former PM Oli and NC leader Gagan Thapa losing in their constituencies, reflects the Nepali public’s strong demand for political change. However, it also represents a yearning for political stability, as this will be the first time in decades that a single party will be able to form a government without a coalition. The downfall of establishment parties would satisfy the Gen-Z protestors, but it remains to be seen how the RSP governs. The country still faces a wide range of political, economic and religious issues, including a high youth unemployment rate, all of which have previously sparked—and could continue to trigger—mass unrest.