Nepal, March 17 -- Nepalis have a habit of embracing new political parties with enormous hope, only to abandon them just as quickly. The dramatic rise of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) may yet break that cycle. Or it may become its latest example. That all depends on what it does once the excitement of victory fades.

Established only months before the 2022 House of Representatives (HoR) election, the RSP surprised nearly everyone. Emerging as the fourth-largest force in Parliament, the party quickly became a major player in national politics. For a party in its infancy, that level of support was unprecedented. The result disrupted the longstanding dominance of Nepal's traditional political actors and signalled rising voter dissatisfa...