Former rapper and Gen Z’s candidate poised to win Nepali election by landslide

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

Partial results released by Nepal’s election commission late Sunday showed that the 35-year old one-time rapper Shah, known simply as Balen, and his centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) had clinched 122 out of 165 directly elected parliamentary seats. 

Nepal’s voters across the country overwhelmingly put their confidence in Balen in what is seen as emphatic confirmation that Gen Z anger against the old guard considered responsible for government corruption and nepotism can be harnessed into real political change.

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

1st election since mass protests

Thursday’s election was Nepal’s first since security forces opened fire on demonstrators who had initially gathered to protest a social media ban last September. Nineteen protesters died on the first day and anger exploded onto the streets, tapping into deep frustration against Nepal’s ruling elite, seen as corrupt, untouchable and ultimately responsible for a weakening economy. 

More than 70 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the two-day Gen Z uprising that saw the parliament and dozens of other buildings across the country torched.

Bells, which are the symbol that the RSP uses on the ballot, rang out loudly at a gathering of supporters in Nepal’s eastern constituency of Jhapa-5 on Saturday, after the country’s election commission confirmed that the ex-rapper had soundly beaten his opponent, former prime minister KP Sharma Oli. 

Balen, who first gained popularity for rap songs that criticized Nepal’s ruling elite, won by a margin just shy of 50,000 votes over Oli, 74, who was forced from power after the uprising but still chose to run again.

While Balen appears poised to win handily, the results aren’t yet official. Nepal also has parliamentary seats that are allocated proportionally to parties, which take longer to count and are not included in the initial tally from the election commission.

A satisfying win for many

Still, while the final election results haven’t been confirmed, Balen’s decisive win over the ousted prime minister was “really satisfying to watch,” said Khadgi, who was glued to her phone screen as results trickled in after polls closed on Thursday.

She told CBC News she believed her country’s old political guard had been aware of the message Nepal’s younger generation was sending, but had “just been ignoring it” for months. 

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

“It came straight from the heart this time,” she said. “It was high time that the youth spoke.” 

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

The RSP, which Balen only joined in January, has been around for less than four years, and “was very unknown to the people until recently,” Adhikari told Reuters. 

“They don’t have [political] baggage.”

‘Talk less and do the work more’

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

The 25-year-old was shot in the arm by police during the protests, sustaining permanent nerve damage. He has lost strength in his left hand and still deals with consistent pain. 

Karki told CBC ahead of the election that he wasn’t so optimistic that real change could come to Nepal, considering the country has seen a rotation of coalition governments and 31 prime ministers in 35 years. 

But now, he’s filled with hope. 

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

With such a strong showing by Balen’s party in clinching many of Nepal’s directly elected seats, Karki believed the new government would not be toppled and “major reforms like constitutional amendments will be easier.” 

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

It would be a challenge for Balen and his party to push through major change, since it would require support from members of Nepal’s National Assembly, the upper house. 

Seeking consensus might also not be one of the former rapper’s first priorities. He has a reputation of combative rhetoric online, recently cursing the United States, India and China. Critics have also complained that he shies away from media interviews and that much about his foreign policy beliefs is unknown. 

But that is not an issue for voters like Khadgi. 

“What my generation thinks is actually that’s what [politicians] should do — talk less and do the work more.”

Challenges ahead

Preliminary voter turnout for Thursday’s polls hovered around 60 per cent, the lowest in decades, particularly for an election centered around change to the entrenched political system. No age breakdown has been published yet.

Millions of Nepalis, who are forced to work overseas because of a lack of jobs at home, were unable to return to their country to vote. Others couldn’t take time off from their jobs in Nepal’s larger cities to travel back to their villages to cast a ballot. 

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

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

“My only wish is that he doesn’t turn that hope into disappointment.” 

Even those who enthusiastically voted for the younger politician acknowledged the challenges he will face in office. 

“He has a huge responsibility now,” said Basant Bajracharya, 55, as he walked his dogs in a park in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Many Nepalese voted to bring stability to their country, Bajracharya told CBC News, after years of coalitions that fostered political opportunism and corruption, and they’ve opted to trust a new political party and its leader.

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