The Road Ahead After Balen Shah’s Rise and the Collapse of Nepal’s Old Guard

The stunning rise of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), powered by the popularity of its senior leader Balendra “Balen” Shah, has reduced the Nepali Congress and the communist parties to their smallest presence ever in Nepal’s parliamentary election history. The results of the 2026 election mark a dramatic break in a political system long dominated by these parties, but the question now is whether a new movement led by younger leaders will be able to replace the traditional forces that have shaped the country’s politics for decades.