The Himalayan Times
28 April 2023
Red signal for Big 3
The desire for change in political leadership was evident in the last May local elections when a moderately known rap musician, Balendra Shah and a social activist, Harka Sampang Rai were elected Kathmandu and Dharan mayors respectively-young blood who were not affiliated to any of the established political parties. Both of them had won with a comfortable majority of votes by defeating well-known political leaders of the big parties. The entry of the youths and new political parties into politics has been an encouraging development in the national political arena when the senior leaders and traditional parties have failed to lead the nation and meet the people’s expectations. Since then, the era of alternative politics has begun, raising an alarming situation for the big three political parties and their so-called senior leaders. However, it remains to be seen and experienced whether these independent young faces and new political parties can deliver services to the satisfaction of their voters in the days to come.
The nation has seen 13 different governments in the last 16 years owing to the irresponsible and egoistic political acts of the senior leaders of major political parties. The overwhelming victories of Lamichhane and Wagle in their respective constituencies over the established leaders of coalition partners and opposition have clearly shown the growing level of people’s frustration with them. This must be a red signal for them to correct their political blunders they made in the past “Message from RSP's thumping victory for big 3” (THT, April 26, Page 1).
Having said this, will these young and politically inexperienced leaders be able to meet the huge expectations and support of their voters? Will Lamichhane, who seems to be all-in-all in his party, be able to prove his political competency against the other established political leaders and fulfil his high promises made during his campaign? Otherwise, the incompetence, if any, of these newly-elected young leaders could impact the emerging young leaders, who sincerely wish to serve the nation and the people, in gaining the trust of the voters in the next general elections.
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