Major leaders of traditional parties lose election

This reality check gives old parties chance to introspect, accept the outcome and seriously work on reforms, analyst says.

A spectacular defeat of top leaders and the poor performance overall of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, two dominant political parties since 1990, in the March 5 vote have stunned their cadres and posed serious questions before the leadership. Almost all top leaders of the Congress and the UML have lost the elections as the Rastriya Swatantra Party, formed in 2022, surges towards a two-thirds majority, in a rare mandate since 1959.