Will RSP Win a Two-Thirds Majority?

Rabi Lamichhane, chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has been elected to the House of Representatives from Chitwan-2, securing his third consecutive victory from the constituency.

According to the final vote count released on Saturday morning, Lamichhane received 54,402 votes — nearly 40,000 more than his closest rival, Mina Kharel of the Nepali Congress, who secured 14,564 votes.

His victory comes as the RSP appears headed for a landslide in the parliamentary elections.

According to the Election Commission, the party has already won 22 seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and is leading in 94 other constituencies. 

Early proportional representation (PR) vote counts also show the party securing the largest share of ballots so far.

If the trend holds, the party could secure as many as 184 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives, giving it a two-thirds majority.

Meanwhile, in Jhapa-5, the party’s prime ministerial face Balendra Shah has extended his lead against former prime minister and CPN (UML) Chair KP Sharma Oli by more than 25,000 votes as counting continues.

The party has swept all 10 constituencies in Kathmandu and both seats in Bhaktapur, while its candidates are leading in all three constituencies in Lalitpur.

Notably, it also captured Bhaktapur-1, a stronghold of the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party.

Nepal voted on Thursday to elect the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of the Federal Parliament. Of the total seats, 165 are elected through the first-past-the-post system while 110 are allocated through proportional representation.

A party needs 138 seats to secure a majority and form the government. Winning 184 seats would give it a two-thirds majority, enabling it to amend the constitution.

Nepal has seen such parliamentary dominance only once before. In the country’s first general election in 1959, the Nepali Congress won 74 of the 109 seats in parliament, securing a two-thirds majority. BP Koirala became prime minister following the victory.

However, the government was short-lived. In December 1960, King Mahendra staged a coup, dismissing the elected government, dissolving parliament, suspending the constitution and banning political parties. Political leaders were jailed and Nepal entered a 30-year partyless Panchayat system.