Kathmandu has huge task on hand

Nepal's rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah is set to become the next prime minister after his centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won a commanding majority in parliamentary elections.

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His meteoric rise—propelled by anti-establishment sentiment and youth anger over corruption—marks one of the most dramatic shifts in Nepal's political landscape in decades. The high-stakes March 5 election came six months after deadly protests that toppled the government, in which at least 77 people were killed. Just 35, Shah rose from mayor of the capital Kathmandu to defeat veteran four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli in his own constituency.But the new government now faces the far harder task of fixing the Himalayan nation's ailing economy. Here are the key challenges it will face. Shah faces the difficult transition from disruptive political outsider to governing leader.

"A serious challenge for the RSP is implementing the promises it has made in its manifesto, given the country's limited resources, infrastructure, and policy capacity," political analyst Krishna Khanal told AFP. "Now the party cannot blame anyone, because it has a majority government.

From the day it forms the government, it must go into action."

BMI analysts, of Fitch Solutions, said the new ruling party "with limited legislative and administrative experience, must navigate deep structural constraints".