World
Nepal’s 35-year-old Rapper Balendra Shah poised to be youngest PM
Nepal has just 2% of votes left to count from Wednesday’s parliamentary elections, with rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) emerging as the majority winner.
The 35-year-old Shah’s rapid rise from mayor of the capital city to expected prime minister marks one of the most surprising outcomes in recent Nepali politics.
The March 5 elections were the first since youth-led protests against corruption, which turned deadly, toppled the previous government last September.
Shah himself defeated veteran four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli, whose Marxist-led government was ousted in the violence last year, in his own seat.
Videos of Nepalis copying Shah’s dancing during the elections have been widely shared on social media.
Voters elected a new 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, with 165 seats chosen directly and 110 by proportional representation (PR).
In direct elections, RSP won three-quarters of seats, 125 of 165, according to official results.
In the proportional representation vote, RSP has the biggest share — nearly half all ballots so far — with just over 200,000 votes left to count.
“We are close to finishing the counting now,” Election Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told AFP. “We will have the final number of PR seats soon.”
If final results reflect the current tally, RSP will have secured a landslide victory, a likely total of around 176 seats, just short of the 183 needed for a supermajority.
The calibration of final seat allocations may differ from the exact percentage if votes for small parties that did not make the threshold to win a seat are not included.
Constitutional law expert Bipin Adhikari said it might still take more than a week for Nepal to get a new prime minister.
“Once the commission submits its report to the president, he will call on RSP lawmakers to name the prime ministerial candidate,” Adhikari, a professor at Kathmandu University, said. “Only after that will his appointment take place.”
Nepali Congress, the biggest party in the last parliament, secured 18 seats in direct elections, and the Marxists of now-defeated Oli won nine.
Follow Us on Google Discover
Mbappé makes history, Saka nets hat-trick as England clinch World Cup bronze with thrilling 6-4 victory over France
Gombe 2027: PDP aspirant withdraws court case, backs Pantami
Arabic Education should be integrated into national curriculum – Gov. Bala Mohammed
Obi/Kwankwaso ticket cannot win 2027 elections, NDC lone senator, Hanga says as he plots defection to APC
UNICAL moves to curb exam fraud, sacks eight staff, penalizes one
TCN announces power blackout in Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, three other Northern states
Police nab eight suspected cultists over alleged assault on Bayelsa Varsity student
Tems makes history as first African female artist with US Diamond-certified single
Imo now one-party state, our people have decided to re-elect Tinubu in 2027, Says Uzodimma
Court sentences two men to death by hanging for raping, murdering 17-year-old girl in Anambra
Trump criticises Tuchel’s tactics after England’s World Cup exit to Argentina
NBA Presidential Poll: Badejo-Okusanya leads as voting continues after cyberattack delay
APC crisis deepens as Aiyedatiwa’s loyalists sue party, INEC over Ondo primaries
NUJ FCT Chairman Grace Ike wins Beacon of Education Award, pledges support for children with special needs
5.0-magnitude quake rocks Southeastern Turkey
8 Public assets named after Tinubu since becoming president (Full List)
JUST IN: Three face trial over Oyo schoolchildren, teachers’ abduction
APC crisis deepens as Aiyedatiwa’s loyalists sue party, INEC over Ondo primaries
TCN announces power blackout in Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, three other Northern states
Supreme Court directs final forfeiture of Emefiele’s properties
Court sentences two men to death by hanging for raping, murdering 17-year-old girl in Anambra
Yobe approves ₦460.8m support for Akara sellers, Women petty traders
Bauchi 2027: APC picks ex-Bala Mohammed campaign DG Faruk Mustapha as Deputy Gov candidate
Imo now one-party state, our people have decided to re-elect Tinubu in 2027, Says Uzodimma
BREAKING: Andy Burnham confirmed as UK Labour leader
Mbappé makes history, Saka nets hat-trick as England clinch World Cup bronze with thrilling 6-4 victory over France
Court dismisses suit seeking INEC recognition of Turaki-led PDP interim NWC
He has lost control, has to resign – ADC ask NASS to probe Tinubu’s fitness
BREAKING: Mary Habila’s father petitions IGP, demands release of daughter’s body for burial
