Nepal's rapper-led centrist RSP party wins 121 seats in election

Nepal's centrist RSP party of rapper-turnedpolitician Balendra

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Shah had secured a majority in the direct parliamentary elections, partial official results showed on Sunday, and was heading for a landslide according to official trends.

The 35-year-old’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was also leading in the proportional representation vote, according to results declared and election commission trends.

The vote was the first since deadly September 2025 youth anti-corruption protests toppled the government. Shah himself had on Saturday defeated the veteran four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli—whose Marxist-led government was ousted in the violence last year —in his own seat.

His victory over the 74-year-old Oli, and his rise from the capital's mayor to potential prime minister, marks one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics.

The September 2025 youth-led demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy.

Elections on Thursday chose a new 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, with 185 seats chosen directly, and IIO by a proportional representation vote.