Balen takes Jhapa and Nepal

It took the September GenZ firestorm and public anger against non-performing actors for a 35-year-old rapper Balendra (Balen) Shah to oust Nep’s three-time time prime minister and former revolutionary.

The UML’s KP Oli has been trounced by 50,000 votes in his home turf, an area where he has won many elections in his 55-year political career. It is the same story across Nepal, where established politicians are being rejected by voters.

A 'Balen Wave' has swept the country, dyeing it in the RSP’s Blue party colour. But the UML and NC particularly did this to themselves. 

An apology and a retirement after the September protests would have saved Oli some dignity, and given the rebranded UML a tiny bit of hope and perhaps a few more electoral wins. 

Maybe he could have been remembered fondly as the funny old guy who made one last fatal political error, but now he will be defined by this defeat. Maintaining control and legitimacy in his own party will be hard too. 

Contrary to his past combativeness and blaming nefarious foreign conspiracies, Oli gracefully conceded on Saturday, congratulating 'Balen Babu'  and wishing him 'a successful five years'.

Balendra Shah and his RSP knew what they were doing. As this piece was being posted on Sunday morning, it has has won 99 and lead in 26 other constituencies, a lot of them with similarly wide margins of victory. RSP candidates have even beaten well regarded candidates like Gagan Thapa of the NC and Kulman Ghising of Ujyalo Nepal. 

Many including this paper questioned the RSP's strategy of chosing popular candidates over competence. But the point of an election is to win it, and there was a short campaign window to put it all together and the RSP pulled it off most successfully. 

To be sure, the party should not get too much credit. Its manifesto was broad and bland, and no different than the other older parties. 

A big part of the RSP ballots, maybe even most of it, were people voting against the old parties rather than for it. Many seemed to feel that this was coming, and perhaps even hoped for it.

There is also a sense of lingering cynicism. Nepal has had several revolutions and many new political starts and things always seem to end up in the same corrupt hopelessness. There is every possibility that the new RSP government will also go the same way. 

The RSP is much bigger than Balendra Shah, although it was his popularity that made this victory possible. Its victory brings with it a sense of hope as all new things do. 

Not all party members who were elected are going to be as accountable or have integrity. Many of them have a chequered past, saw an opportunity in joining the RSP and took the risk. 

What changed things were the events of September. Politicians saw first hand that 'Power to the People' is not some abstract idea. Get too loose to it, forget that you are ruling and not serving, and you get booted out. 

The interim Sushila Karki government deserve credit for delivering on its biggest mandate of holding the election in such a short time frame. The expectation at large was that the polls would be delayed or even scuttled.

In fact, a two-thirds RSP majority is a great opportunity to rehink the country’s political culture and institutionalise change. The point of the government in a democracy is to serve the people. Appointing non-political, competent people worked, at least in the short tenure of the interim government. 

Adding layers of beauracracy and committees and party politics along federal, provincial and local levels heaped resistance to the simple goal of making lives easier for the Nepali. 

Nepal is getting a reboot, and the next few months will show whether the country is on the right track with its new generation government.