Rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah poised to become Nepal's next PM
Nepal's rapper-turned-politician and a former mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra Shah, is poised to become Nepal's new prime minister, following his Rastriya Swatantra Party's (RSP) strong showing in the crucial general elections, early official results showed.
Shah’s party the RSP, has secured a commanding lead in the polls. The relatively new party — founded only four years ago and also known as the National Independent Party — has already won 103 of the 165 directly elected parliamentary seats and is leading in 21 additional constituencies, according to preliminary figures released by Nepal’s Election Commission.
Other political parties and independent candidates have captured a combined 27 seats so far, while vote counting continued across the country on Sunday. Final results are expected later this week.
Popularly known as Balen, the 35-year-old candidate defeated former prime minister KP Sharma Oli in his stronghold constituency of Jhapa in eastern Nepal. Official results show Shah secured 68,348 votes out of 106,372 ballots cast, while Oli received 18,734 votes.
Shah had stepped down from his position as mayor of Kathmandu to contest the national election. A structural engineer by training, he first rose to prominence in 2022 when he won the Kathmandu mayoral race as an independent candidate, defeating nominees from Nepal’s traditional political parties.
Election after political upheaval
Nepal’s general election was held to elect 275 members of the House of Representatives. Of those seats, 165 are chosen through direct elections while 110 are allocated through proportional representation. A party or coalition needs at least 138 seats to form a government.
The vote was the first since mass protests forced the resignation of Oli’s government last September. The demonstrations, driven largely by young activists demanding political reform and an end to corruption, resulted in at least 77 deaths and triggered the dissolution of parliament.
.png "Advertisement")
