The Tamesis
Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah is expected to form Nepal’s first majority-led government in decades after winning a landslide victory in the first polls held since deadly violence last year.
As of Monday afternoon, the 35-year-old Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party won 125 of 165 seats in direct parliamentary elections, giving it a majority, local news media reported.
Shah himself defeated four-time veteran Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from his seat on Saturday. Oli’s Marxist government was ousted last year amid anti-corruption protests led by Generation Z.
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Shah, a first-time member of parliament as he is better known, paraded through the streets of his new constituency on Saturday night, wearing his trademark dark sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade as crowds chanted “Barron” – as he is better known.
Shah, who did not speak, won three times more votes than Oli, who congratulated the winner and wished him “a smooth and successful five-year term.”
Shah’s victory over Oli, 74, and his promotion from mayor of the capital Kathmandu to potential prime minister marked one of the most dramatic results in Nepalese politics in recent years.
“Potential for a supermajority”
Nepali newspaper Kathmandu Post explain “The race was symbolic and anchored broader old and new narratives.” The report noted that Shah’s victory was “rather anticlimactic” as poll watchers mostly expected the race to be tight.
According to the Washington Post, Shah’s Royal Socialist Party was “less than four years old” but had “advanced” an “alternative wave” that led to “unprecedented” losses for Nepal’s traditional political parties.
Among those swept up by the “wave” was the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the past coalition government, whose new leader Gagan Thapa was also defeated by Shah’s RSP.
Elections held last week elected a new 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, with 165 seats directly elected and 110 seats elected through proportional representation. According to published results and Electoral Commission trends, the Real Socialist Party is also in the lead in the proportional representation vote.
The Washington Post said the RSP was “well on its way to a majority” – a feat that would require winning 138 of the 275 seats. The party could also win an “absolute majority” if it wins 184 seats.
Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told AFP the final results would take “a few days” to come out. Located in and along the southern slopes of the Himalayas in the hilly areas of Nepal Could make ballot collection a daunting task This usually takes several days.
Investigate deadly violence
Last week’s vote was the first since deadly protests that toppled Nepal’s ruling government in September 2025.
The 2025 demonstrations, led by young people under the loose Gen Z banner, began with a short-lived social media ban but soon sparked broader discontent over corruption and economic woes.
The commission of inquiry established by the Nepalese government to investigate the violence that left more than 70 people dead also submitted its report on Sunday. No one has yet been held responsible for the deaths.
Committee member Bigyan Raj Sharma told reporters that the team had interviewed more than 200 people and submitted a 900-page report with more than 8,000 pages remaining.
“We attempted to conduct fact-finding on September 8 and 9,” he said. “We make our opinions and recommendations based on what we see, understand and substantiate through the evidence.”
The report has been handed over to interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki. Kalki said it would be up to the new government to take action, but she hoped its key findings would be released before she steps down.
“We are not going to implement it here because we have to hand over power to the new government and leave,” she said. “However, I am confident that the next administration will look at this and implement it.”
Oli denied ordering security forces to shoot at protesters and told AFP he blamed “infiltrators” for the violence.
- AFP reporter Vishakha Saxena.
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