A new Nepali party, led by an ex-rapper, is set for a landslide win in parliamentary election : NPR
Balendra Shah, foreground, former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City and prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, arrives to receive his victory certificate after defeating former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) in Jhapa, about 430 kilometers southeast of Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunday, March 8, 2026.
Niranjan Shrestha/AP
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Niranjan Shrestha/AP
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A Nepalese political party led by a former rapper is poised for a landslide victory in the country’s first legislative elections since Gen Z protests ousted the old leadership that ruled the Himalayan nation for decades.
The Rastriya Swatantra, or Independent National Party, formed only four years ago, had already won 103 of the 165 directly elected seats and was leading in 21 other constituencies, according to results released Sunday morning by the Election Commission of Nepal.
So far, other political parties and independent candidates have won a total of 27 seats. Authorities were still counting votes Sunday and final results were expected later in the week.
The party’s candidate for prime minister is rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, who won the Kathmandu mayoral race in 2022. He became a leading figure in the 2025 uprising that toppled former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli.
In Nepal, voters directly elect 165 members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament. The remaining 110 seats of the 275 members are allocated according to a proportional representation system, in which political parties are allocated seats based on their vote share. On Sunday, the RSP was also in the lead with around 51% of the 110 seats.
The relatively new RSP overthrew the two long-dominant parties: the Nepal Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), which took turns leading the country.
Local newspapers described this resounding victory as a historic moment. “The RSP is all set for a landslide victory,” said the popular newspaper The Himalayan Times. “Popular revolt during elections; political paradigm shift,” declared the Annapurna Post.
RSP supporters celebrated the victory in several constituencies, offering the winners garlands of flowers, bouquets, scarves and coating them with vermilion red powder.
Party officials, however, asked their candidates and supporters to refrain from victory rallies or other public celebrations, out of respect for the dozens of lives lost during youth-led protests last year.
In Nepal, voters have two ballots, one to choose a candidate of their choice, usually nominated by a political party, and the other to choose the party they prefer.
The RSP clearly holds more than half of the directly elected seats and the results of the second round also show that the party has more than 50% of the votes in its favor. They need the support of half the total number of members of the lower house of Parliament to form a government.
Last year’s protests against corruption and bad governance were sparked by a ban on social media before morphing into a popular revolt against the government. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured when protesters attacked government buildings and police opened fire on them.
