Balendra Shah, 35, and his three-year-old Rashtriya Swatantra Party won a landslide victory after Gen-Z protests ousted the former government.
Published on 27 March 2026
Nepal’s youngest prime minister, Balendra Shah, has been sworn in following his party’s landslide election victory following youth-led protests that toppled the government in September.
Rapper-turned-politician Shah was appointed prime minister by President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday after his three-year-old Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 182 seats in the 275-member parliament in the March 5 vote, the first election since Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests that left 76 people dead.
Recommended Stories
4 item listend of list
The 35-year-old wore black trousers, a matching jacket, his signature black Nepali cloth cap and sunglasses as he took the oath in the presence of diplomats and senior government officials at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A day earlier, the new prime minister, known as Balen, issued his first public statement following the historic vote with a rap song shared on social media.
Shah raps in the song titled Jai Mahakali (Victory to Goddess Mahakali), “This time Nepal is not afraid, the heart is full of red blood… This time there will be laughter and happiness in every house.”
His music video, which features scenes of a large crowd cheering him on during his election campaign, has been viewed nearly three million times.
His lyrics further say, “The strength of unity is my national strength.”
A former mayor of the capital Kathmandu, Shah is Nepal’s first Madhesi prime minister – a people from the southern plains bordering India – to lead the Himalayan nation.
China congratulated Nepal on Shah’s swearing-in and said it would support its Himalayan neighbor in safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Protests had intensified over a lack of jobs and endemic corruption in the country of 30 million, where a fifth of the population lives in poverty and an estimated 1,500 people leave the country daily to work abroad.
Although he did not participate directly in the protests, Shah publicly expressed support for the largely Generation Z protesters who led the movement.
Political instability has been a difficult challenge for Nepal, with 32 governments taking office since 1990 and none of them completing a five-year term.
The Nepali Congress Party, the country’s oldest party, came second in Parliament with only 38 seats. KP Sharma forced to resign after Gen Z unrest Oli’s Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist–Leninist) controls 25 members.
Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki led the country from the interim period till the parliamentary elections.
