A former rapper’s new political party has taken the lead in Nepal’s first post-coup election

Kathmandu, Nepal — A political party formed just four years ago and led by a former rapper has taken the lead in Nepal’s parliamentary elections, results announced by the Election Commission on Thursday showed.

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s Rashtriya Swatantra Party, or RSP, won – the country’s first election since last year’s youth-led coup.

The RSP won 125 directly elected seats and 57 as part of the proportional representation vote, giving it a total of 182 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament. Nepali Congress Party is second with 38 seats.

In Nepal, voters directly elect 165 members to the House of Representatives. The remaining 110 seats are allocated through the proportional representation system, under which political parties are allocated seats based on their vote share.

The commission asks political parties to nominate members to fill the seats won through the proportional representation system. They then report to the president, who convenes a new parliament, which elects a new prime minister – who needs the support of half its members. The RSP now holds nearly two-thirds of the seats.

The process is likely to take several days before the country gets a new government.

RSP’s prime ministerial candidate Shah has won the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race. He emerged as a key figure in the 2025 coup that ousted former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli.

The RSP, founded in 2022, won huge support in the parliamentary elections, posing a strong challenge to the two long-dominant parties – the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (a unified Marxist-Leninist).

Last year’s protests against corruption and poor governance were sparked by a social media ban before snowballing into a popular uprising against the government. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured when protesters stormed government buildings and police opened fire on them.