Ex-rapper mayor Balendra Shah on course to become Nepal's next prime minister
Mar 7th 2026
Early counts put the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party and its leader Balendra Shah well ahead in Nepal's parliamentary vote, with final results expected in the coming days.
- Early counts show Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party leading in more than two thirds of the 165 directly elected seats, according to election officials.
- Final results could take days because vote counting is slow and ballots must be collected from remote areas, sometimes by helicopter.
- Balendra Shah, 35, is a trained structural engineer, former Kathmandu mayor and a known figure in Nepal's hip hop scene who rose in popularity during last year's protests.
- Shah contested the same Jhapa 5 constituency as former prime minister KP Oli and is reported to be significantly ahead there.
- Nepal elects 275 members of parliament using a mixed system of 165 first-past-the-post seats and 110 proportional representation seats, with each voter casting two votes.
- About 19 million people were eligible to vote and the Election Commission estimated turnout at roughly 60 percent.