Nepals former rapper Balendra Shah wins landslide election with surprise victory

Nepal’s Rastriya Swatantra Party Secures Sweeping Parliamentary Majority

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has emerged as the dominant force in Nepal’s new parliament, according to official results. The party, founded just four years ago, secured 182 seats in the 275-member lower house of parliament.

The RSP won 125 seats directly and an additional 57 through proportional representation. The Nepali Congress party took second place with 38 seats, while the Marxist party of veteran Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli secured just 25 seats.

RSP leader Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old former civil engineer and hip-hop artist, defeated Oli in his own constituency. Oli congratulated Shah on X, wishing him a “smooth and successful” term as prime minister.

The RSP’s victory marks a significant shift in Nepal’s politics, with Shah emerging as a figurehead of the country’s youth-led uprising against corruption and economic stagnation. The party’s campaign was highly organized, backed by diaspora funding from Nepali communities in the United States.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the vote as a “proud moment” in Nepal’s democratic journey, pledging close cooperation with the incoming government. A new prime minister is expected to be confirmed in several days, pending submission of names for proportionally allocated seats.

The RSP’s victory reflects a generational shift in Nepal, where more than 40 percent of the population is under 35. The party’s leader, Shah, embodies this spirit, having risen from engineer to rapper to Kathmandu’s first independent mayor in 2022.

Source: Al Jazeera