The party of the rapper turned mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra “Balen” Shah, is the big winner of the political duel he had with the former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, and is expected to get an impressive number of seats in the Parliament of Nepal, according to the latest partial results of the legislative elections published on Sunday, informs AFP.
Thanks to his victory over the head of the government toppled in September 2025 by the Gen Z youth uprising, 35-year-old “Balen” is now the heavy favorite to take over the reins of the country.
Political analysts and local media presented him during the election campaign as the main candidate for the position of prime minister, ousting the country's traditional political elite.
Part of Shah's national popularity is due to his work as mayor of Kathmandu, where he focused on improving urban infrastructure such as waste management and ensuring the delivery of services such as healthcare.
He resigned from public office to run for parliamentary elections.
Large number of mandates in Parliament
Balen's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is a new centrist party that won 117 of the 165 majority seats in the House of Representatives and was leading in eight of the 12 constituencies still being counted, according to election commission figures.
The RSP is also far ahead in the votes cast for the remaining 110 proportional representation seats.
Trailing behind him, the Congress Party got 17 seats and KP Sharma Oli's Communist Party seven.
The Electoral Commission indicated that the results of the constituencies should be announced by Monday, but that the allocation of proportionally allocated seats could take up to a week.
Observers of the Asian Network for Free Elections on Sunday welcomed “the calm and orderly conduct of the polls, which reflects the population's continued commitment to democracy despite recent instability.”
The duel between 74-year-old KP Sharma Oli, four-time prime minister since the end of the civil war in 2006 and the abolition of the monarchy two years later, and “Balen” was the most watched of the entire election campaign.
“We are tired of the old governments”
The resounding success of the former mayor of Kathmandu, who has established himself as a spokesman for the aspirations of the youth who sparked the 2025 revolution, marks the emergence of a new generation of political leaders in Nepal.
“We are fed up with the old governments and their old leaders,” Narendra KC, a 47-year-old Kathmandu trader, told AFP. “Now that the youth have taken over, we hope they will bring us good things.”
Shah has not made any public statements since announcing his victory. According to Reuters, he largely avoids the mainstream press and chooses to speak to citizens directly, either in public appearances or on social media.
Initiated by a social media shutdown, the anger of young demonstrators on September 8 and 9 quickly turned into a protest against elite corruption and unemployment, which forces many Nepalis to emigrate to find work.
Report on the Gen Z revolution
According to an official count, the riot left at least 77 dead, hundreds injured and led to the destruction or looting of numerous public buildings, including the parliament in the capital Kathmandu, and shops.
Heading a transitional government since Oli's resignation, Sushila Karki on Sunday received the report of the commission she commissioned to investigate the September insurgency.
According to one of its members, Bigyan Raj Sharman, the commission heard more than 200 witnesses, including the former prime minister, who has consistently denied ordering the police to open fire on the September 8 demonstrators. The report's findings have not been made public.
