Kathmandu. Numerous new parties did well in the elections on November 20, but none came close to outperforming the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which is led by Rabi Lamichhane. Many have been surprised by the development of RSP, which was founded only a few months ago but has already won seven first-past-the-post parliamentary seats, including five in the Kathmandu valley.
The party performed admirably even in the parliamentary election using the proportional representation system, receiving more over three lakh votes and finishing behind UML and NC. Lamichhane himself won from Chitwan-2 with a big margin. The party’s founder, Lamichhane, left journalism only a few months ago to enter politics. His choice appears to have been inspired by independent candidates’ electoral victories at the municipal level, particularly those of Balen Sah in the Kathmandu Metropolis and Harka Sampang in the Dharan Sub-Metropolis.
The East-West Highway and urban areas, such as the Kathmandu Valley, are where the RSP has received the majority of votes, according to the vote count trend. According to political analyst Bijay Mishra, the key factor in why so many dissatisfied voters chose to support the RSP was their dissatisfaction with the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, and the CPN-MC. There were independent candidates in practically every constituency, but voters did not support them in large numbers because they were aware that independent MPs might not be able to accomplish much and might subsequently join traditional political parties, according to Mishra.
He claims that migrant worker families have given RSP support. Mishra told THT that Nepali migrant workers who were concerned about the country’s lack of development, lack of transparency, and corruption issues had contacted their relatives back home to convince them to vote for the RSP. Mishra claims that dedicated NC supporters who resided in districts without an NC candidate cast their votes for the RSP because they did not want to support either the right or the left.
“Despite their polling partnership, the NC and the CPN-MC did not receive the support of NC voters who had endured CPN-MC abuse throughout the 10-year Maoist insurgency. While NC voters are far more democratic and do not order even their family members to vote for a particular party or a candidate, CPN-MC candidates frequently choose the party that their party leaders have instructed them to choose “Mishra disagreed. The NC ran candidates in 91 of the 165 legislative FPTP seats across the nation, leaving 74 seats for coalition partners like the CPN-MC, allowing a sizeable portion of their followers to cast their ballots as they pleased.
In opposition to the dissolution of the Parliament by former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, the ruling coalition did the right thing, according to Uddhab Pyakurel, another political analyst. However, some envious political forces created a narrative against Sher Bahadur Deuba that the Deuba-led government was identical to all previous governments. Pyakurel continued, “Some conservatives inside the party also objected to the party’s choice to join a poll alliance with the CPN-MC and CPN (US), two parties that share no ideological ground with the NC.
Alternative politics have been offered by parties before the RSP. Although Bibeksheel Party and Sajha Party promoted alternative politics, they haven’t succeeded in demonstrating their value during the past five years. In fact, Rabindra Mishra, one of the Sajha Party’s founders, has joined the conservative Rastriya Prajatantra Party.
Time will tell how the RSP performs in the long run, but its policies seem notable. The party has made it clear in its documents that it will not have a sister wing and that candidates for the party will be chosen through internal elections. The RSP stands for a prime ministerial system with direct elections. Due to its desire for changes to the current federalism model, notably to the way the provinces are organized, it did not field any candidates for provincial assemblies. “We are adamant that the provinces as they are now are unaffordable. We want this to be revised “DP Aryal, RSP Vice-Chair, said.
