Kathmandu, March 12 -- The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has achieved a landslide victory in the March 5 House of Representatives elections, winning 125 seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. The party is far ahead with about 47.8 percent of the total valid vote under the proportional representation system.

Remarkably 42 of its victorious candidates under the FPTP category are politicians who abandoned established parties shortly before the polls. From Madhesh to the hills of Gandaki defectors from the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party and regional parties rode the RSP wave promising change, accountability and new leadership in national politics during the elections.

In Madhesh province alone 17 of the party'...