Rastriya Swatantra Party Wins 122 of 165 Seats, Securing Biggest Majority in Nepal’s Democratic History

Rapper turned politician and popular figurehead of Gen Z revolution, Balendra Shah is set to become Nepal’s next prime minister after his party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), secured a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. The RSP has secured 122 of the 165 directly elected seats in the House of Representatives and is leading in three more, putting the party on course for the biggest electoral majority since Nepal became a democracy. The Election Commission has announced results for 159 of the 165 seats so far. The final election results, which will include additional seats appointed through proportional representation, are expected in the coming days.

On Saturday, 35-year-old Shah defeated four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal’s one of the largest parties – CPN-UML – by a huge margin of about 50 thousand votes in the Jhapa-5 constituency.

An engineer by training, Shah rose to fame as a rapper whose tracks took aim at poverty, unemployment and corruption. In 2022, he pivoted to public office, running independently to become the mayor of Kathmandu. But it was the youth uprising in September last year that elevated Shah to national prominence.