Audio By Carbonatix
A three-year-old party won Nepal's general elections by a landslide, authorities said, positioning its candidate, Balendra Shah, to become the next prime minister, with a mandate to restore political stability.
The March 5 election was the Himalayan nation's first vote since demonstrations against corruption last September, led by Gen Z protesters that killed 77 people and toppled the government.
"If everything goes well, we can expect that it can give a stable government for five years," said constitutional expert Purna Man Shakya, referring to splits over dividing up the spoils of office that doomed prior majority governments.
Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 182 seats in the 275-member parliament, the Election Commission said on Thursday, the largest majority of any party in more than six decades.
That holds out hope for stability in a nation that has seen 32 changes of government in the last 35 years, battering investors' confidence while crippling economic and jobs growth.
"We are encouraged by the victory," said newly-elected lawmaker Sisir Khanal, a senior leader of the winning RSP. "The mandate has made us very responsible."
The election relegated the oldest party, the Nepali Congress, to distant second place with just 38 seats, while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) of former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli won only 25.
Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki succeeded Oli as the interim prime minister tasked with holding the election.
The election has been dominated by Shah, the former mayor of Kathmandu, the capital, whose rap music critical of the establishment has gained him near-rockstar-like fame on social media.
He is the first politician expected to become prime minister who hails from the southern plains, known as Madhesh, where smaller regional groups failed to win a single seat.
His RSP canvassed for a programme to fight graft, create jobs , and more than double the $42 billion economy in five years.
But its firebrand leader, Ravi Lamichhane, a former television host, faces charges of misusing the funds of small savings companies. He denies the accusations and has been released on bail.
Last year's youth-led uprising in the nation of 30 million nestled between China and India followed a social media ban that drew thousands into the streets, triggering clashes and deaths that forced Oli's resignation.
Latest Stories
-
Reparations for slavery must go beyond financial compensation – Macron
20 minutes -
Redirect 24-Hour Market funds to complete Agenda 111 hospitals – Asenso-Boakye to gov’t
24 minutes -
Mahama calls for broader global engagement on Reparatory Justice
28 minutes -
Ghana needs up to 90,000 more teachers but budget allows only 7,000 recruits – Education Minister
36 minutes -
Senegal President urges action on UN Reparations Resolution
39 minutes -
Ghanaian students in UK allege assault by High Commission officials during scholarship protest
43 minutes -
Stephen Amoah warns Black Stars against complacency ahead of England clash
43 minutes -
UHAS, RGHI hold forum on menstrual hygiene, adolescent mental health
47 minutes -
Sunyani East NPP congratulates Miracles Aboagye on new appointment
50 minutes -
GHS to reach 8 million people with drugs on Neglected Tropical Diseases
53 minutes -
Police arrest suspected notorious masked armed robber, accomplice in Bolgatanga
55 minutes -
Rider remanded for allegedly stealing tricycle
58 minutes -
JICA commends preparatory works on Santasi-Asokwa dual carriageway project
60 minutes -
Government intensifies interventions to boost tomato production, reduce imports
1 hour -
Opoku-Agyemang congratulates Black Stars on victory over Panama
1 hour