Kathmandu: Six days after Nepal went to the polls, the counting officially concluded on Wednesday (March 11).Yet the broad outcome had become evident on the evening of March 5 itself, when the first leads began to emerge.The four-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has surged to become the largest force in Nepal’s 275-member House of Representatives (HoR), securing a near two-thirds majority after the completion of counting under both the first-past-the-post (FPTP) and proportional representation (PR) systems.The Election Commission is expected to take a few more days to allocate seats to parties based on their share of the PR vote. The process of government formation will begin once the commission formally submits the final results to President Ram Chandra Poudel.The result marks one of the most dramatic shifts in Nepal’s political landscape in decades. What drove this political upheaval, how the election unfolded and what it could mean for Nepal’s politics in the coming months are examined below.Why were early elections called?While the next periodic election was slated for 2027, the “Gen-Z protests” of last September upended the status quo. The demonstrations toppled the government of K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), leading to an interim government headed by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki.Under pressure from youth leaders who argued that traditional parties could no longer represent the people, Karki dissolved the HoR shortly after taking office.Notably, while the HoR was dissolved, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies remained intact, creating a unique situation where the president and provincial chiefs from the mainstream parties remain in power for now.Eighty parties, 18.9 million votersThe total number of registered voters was 18,893,689, of whom 9,663,358 were male and 9,240,131 were female. Eighty political parties contested under the FPTP system, while 64 participated in the PR contest. In total, 3,406 candidates contested under the FPTP and 3,135 candidates were nominated under the PR system.The election was largely peaceful and recorded a voter turnout of around 60%, slightly lower than in the previous parliamentary election. Around one million new voters, most of them young, participated in the polls.A mixed electoral system designed for inclusionNepal’s HoR consists of 275 members.Out of these, 165 members are elected through the FPTP system while 110 members are chosen through PR.Nepal adopted this mixed electoral system after the political changes of 2006 in order to make parliament more inclusive.Political parties must ensure at least 33% of women in parliament. If the quota is not met through FPTP victories, parties must compensate through their PR nominations.Six parties have secured representation under both electoral systems in the new House. They are the RSP, the Nepali Congress (NC), the CPN-UML, the Nepali Communist Party, the Shram Sanskriti Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Independent candidate Mahabir Pun, who served as a minister in the interim government, also won a seat.A landslide of historic proportionsThe scale of the RSP’s victory is almost without precedent in Nepal’s democratic history. To find a comparable mandate, historians point back to 1959, when the NC led by B.P. Koirala secured 74 seats in a 109-member House. In this tenth democratic exercise since 1950, the RSP has achieved the second-largest mandate ever recorded.Out of the 165 FPTP seats, the RSP secured a staggering 125. In the PR category, the party received 47% of the total votes, which is expected to translate into 58 seats.The party is led by former television anchor Rabi Lamichhane. A few months ago, former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah joined the party as a senior leader and prime ministerial candidate, a move that significantly boosted its appeal among younger voters.The RSP was formed a few months before the 2022 general elections, when it won 21 seats in parliament.The collapse of the establishmentFor the first time since the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, traditional political parties suffered a sharp decline. The NC, which held 89 seats in the previous parliament, won only 18 seats under FPTP and 19 under PR.The party had recently changed its leadership through a special general convention that replaced Sher Bahadur Deuba with Gagan Kumar Thapa. Despite expectations that the leadership change would improve its performance, the party suffered a major defeat amid internal divisions and the strong wave in favour of Shah. Its new president is now facing pressure to resign and take moral responsibility for the result.Oli’s CPN-UML also faced a severe setback, securing only nine seats under FPTP and 13 seats under PR.The Nepali Communist Party, formerly the Maoist party, secured seven seats under FPTP and nine under PR. In the previous parliament, the Maoists held 32 seats and their chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had served several terms as prime minister.The Shram Sanskriti Party, led by Dharan mayor Harka Sampang, emerged as the fourth-largest party with three seats under FPTP and four under PR, even though it was formed just before the March 5 elections.The royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party won one seat under FPTP and four under PR. In the previous parliament it had held 14 seats.Overall, the results leave Nepal with a very weak opposition.How the Madhesi political project unravelledThe election was also a major setback for Madhes-based political parties that had emerged as a powerful force during the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections.This time they failed to win a single seat under either electoral system.Prominent Madhesi leaders including Upendra Yadav, C.K. Raut, Rajendra Mahato and Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar all lost their contests.Their decline follows years of internal splits and fragmentation within Madhes-based political formations.The generational fault lines inside Nepal’s partiesThe Gen-Z movement sharpened a debate in Nepali politics about generational change. The leadership in major political parties faced internal pressure to relinquish power and hand over the party reins to new faces.CPN-UML chairman Oli managed to retain his post through a party general convention. Inside the NC, as noted above, youth leader Thapa organised a special general convention that removed Deuba.Parties fielded more young candidates this time than in previous elections. Many senior leaders, including Oli and Thapa, lost their seats, while younger candidates from the same parties won. Youth voters in particular appeared more inclined to support newer political forces.Four factors behind the landslideThe first was a broad desire for change. Before the election, this reporter visited several parts of the country and spoke to voters. A common refrain was that they had supported traditional parties for years but now wanted to give the RSP a chance.There was also widespread dissatisfaction with the failure of traditional political parties in taming corruption and bad governance as well as in creating jobs. People hoped that a new government could address those issues.The third factor is internal rifts in the NC and the CPN-UML. The special convention that brought Thapa to power split the NC, with the Deuba faction remaining passive during the campaign. There was a similar situation inside the CPN-UML after Oli was elected party chairman for a third consecutive-term. In Jhapa-5, Oli was defeated by Shah by a wide margin.Finally, Shah’s popularity among the people was equally important.The engineer-rapper-mayor set to lead NepalBarring some dramatic turn of events, Shah is set to become Nepal’s next prime minister.A structural engineer by training, Shah first gained national prominence after winning the Kathmandu mayoral election in 2022 with a decisive victory over candidates from traditional parties. He joined the RSP as a senior leader about a month before the March 5 election.Born in 1990, Shah at 35 would be among the youngest prime ministers in Nepal’s recent political history. Before entering politics, he was a known figure in Nepal’s music industry as a rapper.Will Nepal finally see political stability?The RSP’s near two-thirds majority has raised hopes that Nepal may see a period of political stability.However, there is also caution among observers. In 2018, the merger between the CPN-UML and CPN Maoist Centre created a strong government under Oli, but that coalition collapsed within two years after a power struggle between him and Dahal.Past events in Nepal’s politics show that a lack of coordination between a party president and the prime minister can lead to the collapse of a government. Lamichhane, who founded the RSP, was initially expected to lead the government but agreed to back Shah as the new prime minister as he faces legal issues linked to investigations into the operation of cooperatives.What the RSP has promisedInstead of issuing long election manifestos, the RSP has issued what it calls a commitment, focused on corruption, good governance, service delivery and job creation. The party has not articulated a formal ideology.On economic policy, it has said it will adopt a liberal approach, similar to the NC.It has pledged to form a commission to investigate the properties of political leaders and other public office holders after 1990. The party has also promised to amend the constitution to address issues such as forms of governance and the electoral system.How the international community responded to Nepal’s electionSeveral countries have welcomed the successful conduct of Nepal’s election.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with RSP leaders on March 9 and congratulated them on the party’s sweeping victory, expressing India’s willingness to work with the incoming government.The US also welcomed the election and said it looked forward to working with the new government on shared goals related to prosperity and security.China, which remained largely silent during the Gen-Z protest movement, also welcomed the election and said it was ready to deepen cooperation with Nepal.What the result means for Nepal’s foreign policyIn its manifesto the RSP has pledged to adapt to the strategic interests of neighbouring countries and changes in the global balance of power.The party has proposed transforming Nepal from a “buffer state” into a “vibrant bridge” by promoting connectivity and trilateral economic cooperation with neighbouring countries.After speaking with Modi Lamichhane said the incoming government would prioritise relations based on mutual respect and shared prosperity while focusing on what he described as development diplomacy.