Nepal General Election 2026 Results Live: Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s newly formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on Friday heading towards a sweeping victory in Nepal’s first general elections since the violent Gen Z protests, shattering the dominance of established political parties in the politically fragile nation. … Popularly known as ‘Balen’, the 35-year-old engineer is expected to be the next prime minister of Nepal, reflecting a public mood of rejection of established parties. Nepal has had 14 governments in the last 18 years.
Balendra Shah (Maithili: बालेन्द्र शाह) (born 27 April 1990) is a Nepali politician who previously served as the 15th mayor of Kathmandu from 2022 until his resignation in 2026. He was the first independent candidate to be elected mayor of Kathmandu in the 2022 Kathmandu municipal election. He is also a structural engineer and a rapper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balen_Shah
The party supports constitutional socialism, market socialism, progressivism, political pragmatism, participatory democracy, economic liberalism[2] and political freedom.[40] The party has been described as centrist[5][41] by different members within the party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastriya_Swatantra_Party#Ideology
shattering the dominance of established political parties
The world could learn from this. Seriously. Particularly as traditionally left parties drift more and more towards center-right, and/or are captured by corrupt ‘donations’ from vested interests.
Younger people starting their own Party, particularly if they’re successful media stars who already have public exposure, have the potential to disrupt the old paradigm. Or, to be fair, the idea could make things worse.
But it seems to be doing well for Nepal!
