Having worked and researched on the details of Nepal’s first parliamentary elections of 1959 for a book, I was waiting for 2028 to make my book public as that was the year Nepal was scheduled to hold the calendar parliamentary elections. However, following the GenZ revolt of 8-9 Sept 2025, Nepal’s parliament was dissolved prompting an early parliamentary election. I had to release my book before election day (March 5). Interestingly, the public mandate of the recent elections has many similarities to that of Nepal’s pioneering parliamentary elections of 1959.
Two-thirds majority
Nepal’s parliamentary history has seen five majority parliaments as of 2026. Still, the elections of 1959 and 2026 have two-thirds majority. In 1959, Nepali Congress bagged 74 of the 109 total seats. This time, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) got 182 of the 275-seat House of Representatives. RSP is just bereft of two seats for two-thirds. The only huge majority after 1959 was the 2017 elections when the Nepal Communist Party, after the merger of two communist parties—CPN-UML and CPN (Moist Center)—secured 174 of the 275 seats. At least in numbers, RSP is the strongest parliament force after 1959 election results. The 1959 result was partly an outcome of the Nepali Congress-led armed struggle in 1950-51 which overthrew the 104-year-old Rana regime. Likewise, RSP won the 2026 elections after the overthrow of the historic coalition government of the UML and Nepali Congress with almost two-thirds majority by GenZs.
Heads roll, six parties in the House
Echoing the similar trend of 1959, Nepal’s 2026 elections also witnessed the electoral losses by Nepal’s party heads. For instance, Gagan Thapa, the president of Nepal’s then largest party, the Nepali Congress, lost to Amresh Kumar Singh, the newly inducted member of RSP with a vote margin of more than 12,000. Until 2017, Singh had won elections as Nepali Congress leader from the same constituency—Sarlahi-4, adjacent to India’s Bihar state. In a similar fashion, former Prime Minister and chairperson of Nepal’s second largest political party—UML—lost to the PM candidate of RSP, Balendra Shah, by a vote margin of almost 50,000. Except RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane and Nepali Communist Party coordinator Puspa Kamal Dahal, all party heads lost the vote. This was the case even in 1959 where the only party head winning the election was Nepali Congress President BP Koirala. Six parties came to the parliament from this election and the same was the figure even in the first parliamentary elections.
In 1959, the six parties included Nepali, Congress, Nepali Rastrawadi Gorakha Parisad, Samyukta Prajatantra Party, Nepali Communist Party, Nepal Praja Parisad (Acharya Faction) and Nepal Praja Parisad (Mishra faction). Today’s six parties are RSP, Nepali Congress, UML, Nepali Communist Party, Shram Sanskriti Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).
In 1959, there were four independent parliamentarians in the parliament. This time around, the figure is one.
Communist position
In 1959, Nepal Communist Party was ranked a distant fourth position with single digit seats of four out of 109-seat houses. This time also, Nepal’s two major communist parties have just secured single digit seats in first-past-the-post elections for 165 seats with UML’s nine and Nepali Communist Party’s eight. However, after adding seats from the proportional representation system, their seats totaled 25 and 17, respectively. However, first party RSP stands tall with 182 seats followed by second-placed Nepali Congress’ 38 seats. For the first time, Nepal’s communist parties have been evicted both from the government formation and main opposition seat after 1959.
Women’s victory
Victory of Nepal’s lone woman candidate, Dwarikadevi Thakurani Chanda, in 1959 made it the frontpage news in The New York Times with the headline ‘Woman named in Nepal’. This was at a time when some advanced western nations like Switzerland didn’t provision voting rights for women. This election was also good for women candidates compared to two other elections before. Fourteen women came victorious in the first-past-the-post format. Out of them, 13 are from RSP and one from Nepali Congress. In the parliamentary elections of 2017, six women won the direct election. Even in the 2022 elections, only nine women made their way to Nepal's federal parliament by winning direct election.
Global gaze
Nepal’s elections of 1959 and 2026 raised eyebrows from around the world. In 1959, the major issue was that Nepal held its first parliamentary elections, first after the dawn of democracy in 1951. The recent elections were held after the historic GenZ revolt. Various world media extensively reported on Nepal’s 1959 elections. The Time magazine wrote, “Literacy is so low (six percent) that parties were identified on the ballot boxes by pictures. The whole idea of an election, in fact, is so foreign to Nepalis that they have no word for “vote,” and were obliged to borrow the English. What was surprising was that, despite these handicaps, Nepal ran smoother elections than many more advanced nations.” The elections of 2026 were also widely reported by various global media giants.
