Nepal Election: Rapper-mayor Balen Shah's party wins 20 seats, leads in 99

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s newly formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on March 7 heading towards a sweeping victory in Nepal’s first general elections since last year’s violent Gen Z protests, dealing a major blow to the country’s established political parties.

According to the latest data released by the Election Commission of Nepal, the RSP has won 18 seats and is leading in 99 others.

The election is being closely watched by India, which hopes for a stable government in the politically fragile Himalayan nation to advance bilateral development cooperation.

“We look forward to working with the new Government of Nepal to further build on the robust and multifaceted ties between our two countries and peoples for mutual benefit,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, said in New Delhi earlier this week. He added that India has consistently supported peace, progress and stability in Nepal and had provided logistical supplies at the request of the Nepali government for the elections.

Among other parties, the Nepali Congress has won four seats and is leading in 11 constituencies, while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) has secured one seat and is leading in 11 others. The Nepal Communist Party has won two seats and is leading in 10 constituencies, while the Shram Sanskriti Party is leading in three seats.

Nepal’s Parliament has a total of 275 members, of which 165 are elected through direct voting and the remaining 110 through a proportional representation system.

About 18.9 million voters were eligible to elect members to the House of Representatives of Nepal, with nearly 60 per cent turnout recorded during polling held on Thursday. Around 3,400 candidates contested the 165 seats under direct voting, while 3,135 candidates contested the 110 seats under the proportional representation system.

The elections were held following last year’s youth-led protests in September that forced then Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli to step down from office. Oli had been heading a coalition government supported by the Nepali Congress with nearly a two-thirds majority.

Following his ouster, Ramchandra Paudel dissolved the House of Representatives on September 12 and appointed Sushila Karki as the caretaker prime minister.

The Gen Z protests had raised issues such as corruption, poor governance, nepotism and the demand for generational change in political leadership.