KATHMANDU, March 11: Vote counting from the House of Representatives election held on March 5, 2026, has reached the final stage. Counting under the first-past-the-post system ended on Monday, while the proportional representation count is almost complete. The process across all constituencies is expected to finish by Wednesday.
After that, the Election Commission will finalize the distribution of proportional seats among political parties and submit its report to the President next week. Within about a week after the report is submitted, the country will get a new government based on the fresh mandate.
Under the Constitution promulgated in 2015, the country will form a government under Article 76(1) for the first time. Nepal’s mixed electoral system had long produced a common belief that no single party could secure a majority on its own. The March 5 election has shattered that assumption. The Rastriya Swatantra Party, formed less than five years ago, has secured close to a two-thirds mandate.
Out of the 165 constituencies under the direct election system, the RSP has won 125 seats. In the proportional vote as well, the party has secured about 48 percent of the vote. It has now a combined strength under both systems, as it has won a two-thirds majority, while older parties have suffered major setbacks, indicating a significant shift in the political landscape and suggesting that voters are increasingly favoring newer parties over traditional ones. The Nepali Congress appears to be reduced to around 40 seats. The party has won only 18 constituencies under the direct system and has failed to reach even 17 percent of the proportional vote. Other parties are in an even weaker position.
The scale of the result recalls Nepal’s first parliamentary election in 1959. At that time, the Nepali Congress had secured a two-thirds majority. Many senior leaders from other parties had also lost their seats. A similar trend has appeared in the latest election. Apart from RSP leaders, only Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Communist Party of Nepal and Harka Sampang of the Shram Sanskriti Party managed to secure victory among party heads. Leaders from dozens of other parties failed to win their contests.
Hope and trust with RSP
The election outcome clearly shows the public mood. Voters have expressed strong support for the RSP. Several reasons explain this shift, but one factor stands out. Public frustration with traditional political parties has grown steadily. People also want better governance and faster economic progress.
Nepal has seen major changes since the restoration of democracy in 1990. The country’s literacy rate stood at 39 percent during the 1991 election. Today it has reached about 76 percent. The road network has expanded from about 3,933 kilometers to more than 18,100 kilometers. Electricity production has risen from 227 megawatts to about 3,500 megawatts. Gross domestic product has increased from about Rs120 billion to nearly Rs61 trillion.
Yet citizens remain dissatisfied. Many voters believe older parties repeatedly made promises during elections but failed to deliver. This perception pushed voters to look for an alternative. The RSP became that alternative. With such overwhelming public support, the party now faces a serious test. It must protect public trust and at the same time manage its own organization responsibly.
History offers lessons. In 1959, voters who were tired of Rana and royal rule gave the Nepali Congress a two thirds mandate. Soon after forming the government, however, disagreements emerged between party leaders BP Koirala and Subarna Shumsher Rana over leadership of the government. BP Koirala eventually led the government, but internal divisions weakened the party. King Mahendra exploited that conflict and took direct control of power on December 15, 1960. The Panchayat system then ruled the country for 30 years.
After the 1990 political change, the 1991 election again gave the Nepali Congress a majority. Yet party president Krishna Prasad Bhattarai himself lost his seat. Girija Prasad Koirala formed the government and tried to introduce administrative and economic reforms. His government faced resistance both from party factions and from the civil service. The administration attempted to move ahead despite strikes by government employees. Internal disputes eventually deepened, and even the government’s policy and program could not pass parliament. The country was pushed into midterm elections.
The bureaucracy shaped by old habits still remains. Whether it will work smoothly with the RSP and its proposed prime ministerial candidate Balen Shah remains uncertain. How the civil service responds to the new political leadership will become clear only with time.
Nepal’s political path also passed through a violent Maoist insurgency, followed by royal rule and a long constitutional transition. Political parties repeatedly told citizens that the situation would improve once a new constitution came into force. People trusted those assurances. The constitution was promulgated in 2015, and the first election under it was held in 2017.
At that time, the UML and the Maoist Center fought the election together. They promised a stable government and rapid economic development. Voters gave them a strong mandate, similar to the one now received by the RSP. The two parties even merged to form the Nepal Communist Party. Yet they failed to manage internal disagreements. Personal rivalries soon weakened the party, parliament, and the government itself. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the House of Representatives twice amid party conflict. The Supreme Court later overturned those decisions.
Eventually the united communist party split into three factions. In the 2022 election, voters still gave these parties respectable support, hoping they would reform themselves. Instead, political leaders focused more on power struggles than on public concerns. Public dissatisfaction grew deeper. The two-day Gen Z protest in September 2025 exposed the depth of that anger. The protests ended the authority of the existing political leadership, and the March 5 election sharply reduced their public support.
Now the RSP stands in the position once held by older parties. The party must maintain balance between government and party structures. Managing internal unity will be as important as running the government. The RSP must handle not only party affairs but also the broader machinery of the state. It will need to work with older political parties that lost the election but still hold influence. The party cannot isolate itself politically. It must also coordinate with provincial and local governments. Running the country requires cooperation among the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. The new government must also work with the civil service and the security agencies.
Past experience offers another reminder. In the first Constituent Assembly election of 2008, the Maoists emerged as the largest party after ending a decade-long armed conflict. Their chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal became prime minister. When his government attempted to remove the then army chief, Rukmangad Katawal, the decision created a political crisis, and Dahal eventually resigned.
Nepal’s sensitive geopolitical setting adds another layer of responsibility. Any government must maintain balanced relations with neighboring countries and friendly states. External partners remain interested not only in Nepal’s economic progress but also in its security environment.
Only after addressing these domestic and external challenges can the new leadership respond to public anger toward traditional political parties. Citizens expect faster economic progress, good governance, and strong action against corruption. Meeting those expectations will determine whether the current wave of public support turns into lasting political trust.
