Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah “Balen” was sworn in as Nepal’s democratically elected prime minister on Friday, about six months after the K P Sharma Oli-led government was toppled amid a Gen-Z protest that convulsed the country. 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.
An engineer by training, Balen is the youngest person to hold the office and the first from the Madhes region to become prime minister. President Ram Chandra Paudel appointed him as the 47th prime minister earlier in the day under Article 76(1) of the constitution. He is the first democratically elected prime minister to be sworn in since the coalition government led by Oli was removed in September after youth-led protests over corruption, nepotism and a social media ban escalated.
Balen’s swearing-in combined Hindu and Buddhist rites: Shankhanad (conch blowing) by seven brahmins, recitation of Vedic hymns (Swasti Bachan) by 108 Hindu batuks, and Mangal Bachan, a Buddhist scripture recitation, by 107 lamas. Sources say he is likely to form a relatively small cabinet of roughly 15–18 ministers.
In the March 5 general election, the former Kathmandu mayor defeated four-time prime minister Sharma Oli in the Jhapa-5 constituency—long a CPN-UML stronghold—by a wide margin. The RSP won a landslide, securing 182 of the 275 seats in the House of Representatives (HoR), enough for a majority. Of the 275 HoR seats, 165 are filled by direct voting and 110 by proportional representation.
The RSP rout reduced traditional parties to far fewer seats: the Nepali Congress won 38, the CPN-UML 25, and the Nepali Communist Party 17. After Oli’s ouster, former chief justice Sushila Karki served as interim prime minister on the recommendation of the Gen Z group. On Friday, newly elected HoR members, including Balen, took their oaths at the federal parliament, beginning the government formation process three weeks after voting concluded.
