The former rapper and Gen Z candidate is poised to win Nepali elections in a landslide

In a stunning victory guaranteed to reshape Nepal’s politics, rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah appeared headed for victory in the South Asian country’s first election since youth-led protests toppled the previous government last fall.

Partial results released by Nepal’s election commission late Sunday showed that 35-year-old rapper Shah, known as Balen, and his leading Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 122 out of 165 directly elected seats.

Nepali voters across the country are increasingly trusting Balen in what appears to be confirmation that Gen Z’s anger at the old guard seen as the cause of government corruption and nepotism can be channeled into real political change.

“We want him to lead a new revolution” focused on “new energy, new thinking and new reforms,” ​​said Shubha Khadgi, 24, who voted in Kathmandu, the country’s capital.

The first election since there were massive protests

Thursday’s election was the first in Nepal since security forces opened fire on protesters who first gathered to protest the ban on social media last September. Nineteen protesters died on the first day and anger erupted in the streets, spilling over into deep frustration against Nepal’s ruling elite, who were seen as corrupt, out of touch and ultimately responsible for the weak economy.

More than seventy people were killed and hundreds of others were injured when Gen Z riots broke out for two days, burning the parliament building and other buildings across the country.

Bells, a symbol used by the RSP at the polls, rang out at a rally in Nepal’s eastern district of Jhapa-5 on Saturday, after the country’s election commission confirmed that the former rapper had loudly beaten his opponent, former prime minister KP Sharma Oli.

Balen, who rose to fame with rap songs critical of Nepal’s ruling party, won by 50,000 votes over Oli, 74, who was forced out of office after a coup but chose to run again.

Although Balen seems poised to win decisively, the results are still not official. Nepal also has parliamentary seats that are allocated equally to parties, which take longer to count and are not included in the first count from the election commission.

A satisfying win for many

Still, while the final election results have yet to be confirmed, Balen’s victory over the ousted prime minister was “really satisfying to watch,” said Khadgi, staring at his phone screen as the results rolled in after polls closed on Thursday.

He told CBC News that he believed his country’s old guard was aware of the message being sent by Nepal’s younger generation, but had been “ignoring it for months”.

After several years of being eligible to vote, Khadgi finally decided to register to vote in this election.

“This is from the heart,” he said. “It was too late for the youth to speak.”

The results are “shocking,” said political observer and constitutional scholar Bipin Adhikari, who teaches law at Kathmandu University.

The RSP, which Balen joined in January, is less than four years old, and “was largely unknown to the public until recently,” Adhikari told Reuters.

“They don’t have them [political] A burden.”

‘Talk less and do more work’

For Madan Karki, one of the protesters injured in the September uprising, the results “feel very good.”

A 25-year-old suspect was shot in the arm by the police during a protest, causing permanent blood vessel damage. He has lost strength in his left hand and is still in constant pain.

Karki told the CBC before the election that he had little hope of real change in Nepal, as the country has seen 31 coalition governments and prime ministers in 35 years.

But now, he is full of hope.

“The old belief that elections can be won by spending money has been broken.”

With Balen’s party’s strong showing in securing the majority of directly elected seats in Nepal, Karki believed that the new government would not be overthrown and “major reforms such as constitutional amendment would be easy.”

No elected government in Nepal’s history has served a full five-year term.

It will be a challenge for Balen and his party to continue the radical change, because it will need the support of members of Nepal’s National Assembly, the upper house.

Seeking conformity may not be one of the former rapper’s top priorities. He has a reputation for fighting words online, most recently cursing the United States, India and China. Critics have also complained that he does not hold interviews with the media and that much about his foreign policy beliefs is unknown.

But that is not the issue for voters like Khadgi.

“What my generation thinks is actually that [politicians] you have to do it – talk less and do more work.”

Challenges ahead

Early voter turnout in Thursday’s election was up nearly 60 percent, the lowest in decades, especially in an election focused on changing the entrenched political system. No age classification has been published yet.

Millions of Nepalese, forced to work overseas due to unemployment at home, could not return to their country to vote. Others could not take time off from their jobs in Nepal’s big cities to return to their villages to vote.

Purna Prasad Pandey, 49, voted for Oli’s party, i The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), known as the UML, said its main concerns are corruption and good governance.

Most people voted for the bell, he said, referring to the RSP symbol, because “they put their hopes in Balen.”

“I just wish that he doesn’t turn that hope into a disappointment.”

Even those who voted for this young politician enthusiastically acknowledged the challenges he will face in this position.

“You have a big responsibility now,” said Basant Bajracharya, 55, while walking his dogs in a park in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Many Nepalis voted to bring stability to their country, Bajracharya he told CBC News, after years of coalitions promoting political opportunism and corruption, they have chosen to trust a new political party and its leader.

“He can do it,” she said. “He can deliver.”