Waving to a cheering crowd from the sunroof of a car, dressed in his trademark black blazer, T-shirt and sunglasses, Balendra Shah looks like a famous rapper. But he won’t be visiting the eastern district of Jhapa to perform: he is celebrating a massive election victory that has helped pave the way for him to become Nepal’s next leader.
This rural area has long been a bastion of support for veteran communist politician KP Sharma Oli, who served as Nepal’s prime minister until youth-led protests toppled the government and forced him to resign last year. In the country’s first elections since the riots, Shah – a rapper-turned-politician widely known as “Balen” – came to challenge the old guard on their own turf. His confidence paid off.
According to the Nepal Election Commission, Shah received 68,348 votes, the highest total ever recorded in a parliamentary race, and almost 50,000 more than his opponent, marking one of the most dramatic upsets of the election. And with his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) winning the majority of seats in parliament, the former mayor of Kathmandu is set to become the country’s next prime minister.
Why do we write this?
Balendra Shah, once dismissed as a political novice, is on track to become Nepal’s next prime minister. His bold leadership style has helped mobilize young voters, but could be a challenge when it comes to governing a nation.
His rise reflects a deeper turmoil in Nepali politics, driven largely by young voters frustrated by corruption, unemployment and decades of revolving-door governments.
“Young people were attracted to the way he presented himself: direct, frank and willing to challenge traditional political culture,” says Uddhab Pyakurel, professor of political sociology and acting dean of the School of Arts at Kathmandu University.
But effectively governing this democracy of 30 million people will require more than arrogance.
“The expectations that young people have today cannot be met overnight,” says Dr. Pyakurel. “Leadership requires constant dialogue and consultation. A leader cannot simply impose decisions; he must work with institutions, parties and the public.”
Frustration with the old guard
Nepal’s political instability has been persistent. Since the monarchy was abolished in 2008, the country has had more than a dozen governments and no prime minister has completed a full five-year term.
“Power continued to circulate among a small group of old leaders,” says Kathmandu-based political activist Nabeen Tiwari. At the same time, millions of young people left the country in search of work abroad.
Frustration boiled over last year when protests – initially sparked by government restrictions on social media – spread across the country and turned into demonstrations against corruption, unemployment and economic stagnation.
“At that time there was a political vacuum,” says Tiwari. “Many people were no longer willing to trust traditional parties.”
And Shah, who had already established himself as a political outsider who could get things done, was a ready and willing alternative.
The rise of an outsider
Shah joined Kathmandu’s emerging hip-hop scene in the early 2010s, while studying civil and structural engineering. Performing on city rooftops and in underground rap battles, he built a following with songs that criticized corruption, poverty and the country’s entrenched political class.
“The people who are supposed to protect the country are idiots,” he raps on “Balidan” (or “sacrifice” in Nepali), a song viewed millions of times on YouTube. “The leaders are all thieves who loot the country.”
But in a rare interview with The New York Times in 2023, he said that entering politics was always part of his broader plan.
Buoyed by his popularity as a musician, Shah defeated candidates from established parties in the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race, running as an independent. Once in office, he cracked down on illegal construction and launched efforts to improve urban management, efforts that won praise from supporters who considered him decisive. But his methods also sparked controversy, including in 2023, when his administration expelled street vendors from parts of Kathmandu without providing them with alternative spaces to continue their businesses.
Throughout his tenure, he rarely spoke to the press, preferring to communicate directly with his followers through social media. (His team declined repeated interview requests for this story.)
It was through those channels that Shah echoed protesters’ calls for the government to resign late last year. In a social media post addressed to “Generation Z and all Nepalis,” he urged the public to be patient as the interim government assumed power.
“You are now taking a step towards a golden future,” he wrote. “Please don’t panic right now… The job of this interim government is to hold elections that will grant a new mandate.”
In January, he announced his decision to participate in those elections, resigning as mayor and supporting the RSP, a political party founded in 2022 that had positioned itself as anti-system and anti-corruption.
Government realities
Rebika Gurung, a 27-year-old casino manager, says she convinced her entire family to vote for the RSP last week.
“I don’t necessarily support his party, but I voted for him because of Balen,” he says. “He is not only young but also educated and… he has already fulfilled his role as mayor.”
Nepal is still counting votes, but so far the RSP has won 183 of the country’s 275 parliamentary seats. Like many young voters, Gurung is frustrated by what she sees as decades of corruption and political stagnation, and hopes Shah can use his position as prime minister to help create jobs and prevent young people from moving abroad.
But some Nepalis have doubts.
Balen’s critics have described him as uncompromising, opportunistic and impulsive. A few months ago, he posted an expletive-laden late-night message on Facebook criticizing India, China and the United States, along with Nepal’s traditional parties. The post was later deleted.
For some observers, the episode highlighted uncertainty over how Nepal might navigate Nepal’s delicate diplomatic balance between India and China. And although Shah’s party is emerging as the largest bloc in Parliament, it will still need to work with lawmakers from the same traditional parties it has railed against for years, including the Nepali Congress, the Nepal Communist Party and Maoist factions, which have won dozens of seats in Parliament.
“People desperately want change,” says Tiwari. “But transforming the system will be much more difficult than winning an election.”
However, this is a gamble that many young voters are happy to take.
“If Balen doesn’t deliver, we will take to the streets again and remove him,” says Aaditya Karna, one of the leaders of Generation Z in last year’s protests.
