Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ was appointed prime minister of Nepal on Friday, becoming the youngest elected leader to hold the nation’s top executive office. President Ramchandra Paudel named Balen, parliamentary party leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), under Article 76(1) of the Constitution, according to a notice from the President’s Office.
The 35-year-old former rapper and Kathmandu mayor is also the first prime minister from the Madhes region. President Paudel will administer the oath of office and secrecy at Sheetal Niwas at 12:34 pm, the president’s press advisor Kiran Pokharel said.
Balen’s swearing-in will mix Hindu and Buddhist rites, with sources close to him saying the ceremony will include Shankhanad (conch blowing) by seven brahmins, recitation of Vedic hymns or Swasti Bachan by 108 Hindu batuks, and Mangal Bachan or Buddhist scripture recitation by 107 lamas.
He is expected to form a relatively compact cabinet of roughly 15 to 18 ministers.
The appointment follows the general election, the first since last year’s Gen Z protests that called for generational change and an end to corruption. Balen and the RSP secured a majority in the House of Representatives, winning 182 of 275 seats and qualifying for prime ministership under Article 76(1). Of the 275 HoR members, 165 are elected by direct vote and 110 by proportional representation; all newly elected members took their oaths on Thursday.
In the vote, Balen defeated four-time prime minister K P Sharma Oli in the Jhapa-5 constituency — a seat long regarded as a stronghold of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) — winning by a substantial margin.
