Nepal's rapper-turned-politician and a former mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra Shah, is poised to become Nepal's new prime minister, following his Rastriya Swatantra Party's (RSP) strong showing in the crucial general elections, early official results showed on Saturday.
Popularly known as Balen, he defeated ousted Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in his home constituency, the eastern district of Jhapa, securing 68,348 votes out of the total 106,372 votes cast.
Oli secured 18,734 votes, according to official results.
Balen, 35, had resigned from the Kathmandu mayoral position to contest the election against Oli.
In 2022, structural engineer Balen was elected mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City on an independent ticket, defeating heavyweights from major political parties.
With the dissolution of the House of Representatives, he resigned from the position, joined the RSP as its senior leader and decided to contest the election against Oli.
To test his popularity, the RSP named him as the new prime ministerial candidate.
So far, RSP has won 73 seats of the total 91 election constituencies counted, according to results released by the election commission. The party is also commanding a lead in an additional 49 election constituencies.
Nepal held general elections on Thursday to elect 275 members of the House of Representatives, with approximately 60 percent of voters casting their ballots. The general elections were held for the first time since mass protests overthrew then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's government.
A party, or a coalition, needs a simple majority of 138 seats to form a government.
Oli’s government was ousted last September at the peak of mass protests, which left 77 people dead.
Oli, in a post on his Facebook account, congratulated Balen on his victory.
