Balendra Shah, known as Balen and a former rapper-turned-politician, was sworn in as Nepal’s 47th prime minister on Friday after winning a clear democratic mandate. The 35-year-old leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) took the oath at the President’s Office in Sheetal Niwas at the auspicious time of 12:34 pm, roughly six months after the K P Sharma Oli-led government was toppled amid Gen Z-led protests that roiled the country.
An engineer by training and the youngest person to assume the premiership, Balen is also the first prime minister from the Madhes region. President Ram Chandra Paudel formally appointed him earlier in the day under Article 76(1) of the constitution. His swearing-in is the first inauguration of a democratically elected prime minister since the coalition government led by Oli was removed last September following youth protests focused on corruption, nepotism and a social media ban.
The ceremony blended Hindu and Buddhist traditions: conch blowing (Shankhanad) by seven brahmins, recitation of Vedic hymns (Swasti Bachan) by 108 Hindu batuks, and Mangal Bachan, a Buddhist scripture recitation, by 107 lamas. Party sources say he is expected to form a relatively compact cabinet of about 15–18 ministers.
Balen’s RSP achieved a resounding victory in the March 5 general election. The former Kathmandu mayor defeated four-time prime minister K P Sharma Oli in the longtime CPN-UML stronghold of Jhapa-5 by a wide margin. Nationwide, the RSP won 182 of the 275 seats in the House of Representatives, an outright majority. Of those 275 seats, 165 are elected directly and 110 are filled through proportional representation.
The RSP’s surge sharply reduced the share of traditional parties: the Nepali Congress won 38 seats, the CPN-UML 25, and the Nepali Communist Party 17. After Oli’s removal last year, former chief justice Sushila Karki briefly served as interim prime minister at the recommendation of Gen Z protest leaders. On Friday, newly elected members of the House of Representatives, including Balen, took their oaths at the federal parliament, formally launching the government formation process about three weeks after voting concluded.
