New party led by ex-rapper leads Nepal election results after 2025 uprising
The Rastriya Swatantra Party, founded in 2022 and led by former rapper Balendra Shah, is leading Nepal's first parliamentary election since last year's youth revolt.
Preliminary results from Nepal's parliamentary election show a new political party led by a former rapper taking an early lead, according to data released Saturday by the country's Election Commission.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party, or National Independent Party, has won 27 of the 165 directly elected seats and is leading in 90 other constituencies. The party's prime ministerial candidate is Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician who previously won the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race and became a prominent figure during the 2025 uprising that removed former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli from power.
Shah campaigned on improving health and education services for poor Nepalis, capitalizing on widespread public dissatisfaction with traditional political parties. He is running directly against Oli in a southeastern district, where early results show him with a substantial lead over the former prime minister.
The election represents the first parliamentary contest since the 2025 youth-led protests that began over a social media ban and expanded into broader demonstrations against corruption and poor governance. The unrest resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries when protesters clashed with police and attacked government buildings.
Voters are directly electing 165 members to the House of Representatives, with the remaining 110 seats in the 275-member body allocated through proportional representation based on parties' vote shares. Vote counting continues across most constituencies, with final results expected within two days. Election officials are using helicopters to collect ballot boxes from remote mountain villages in northern regions.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party, founded only in 2022, is challenging the traditionally dominant Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). The remaining called races went to the Nepal Congress party and two communist parties, reflecting what observers view as a three-way electoral contest driven by voter demands for greater government accountability.