Rapper-turned politician Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, is set to become Nepal’s next prime minister as the official vote count nears completion. Millions of Nepalese cast ballots Thursday during the first national election since youth-led protests toppled the country’s previous leader last year.
Balendra Shah greets supporters in Damak, Nepal, after his election as Nepal’s next prime minister.
The winner
Balen’s party is heading toward a clear majority of the 275 seats in parliament, results from the Election Commission showed on Sunday.
The 36-year-old former mayor of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, handily defeated Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, the 74-year-old former prime minister. Violent Gen-Z protests propelled by frustration over corruption and a lack of jobs prompted Oli to resign from the post in September.
Balen’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party has promised to create more than a million jobs over the next five to seven years and to double per capita gross domestic product to $3,000 over the same span.
During a January interview before he launched his campaign, Balen said the old parties had failed to deliver and as prime minister he would focus on good governance and ending corruption.
The backdrop
Nepal’s election took place while the wounds of the protests, which left nearly 80 people dead, were still fresh.
Balen’s emergence has given hope to many in a country that has been stifled by corruption and cronyism. A social-media campaign last year that focused on so-called nepo babies contrasted the lifestyles of elite families with the hardships of ordinary Nepalese.
Many Nepalese say that Balen, a civil engineer, could extend the success he had as mayor of Kathmandu to the rest of the country. In Kathmandu, he helped solve waste-management problems, improve streets for pedestrians and preserve the city’s cultural heritage.
The stakes
Wedged between Asian giants India and China, Nepal’s economy has lagged behind in recent years.
With a per capita GDP of roughly $1,500, the country relies heavily on remittances from overseas workers and tourism, particularly expeditions to Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks. With little manufacturing, Nepali people still live off farming, even as the population has become more educated.
Youth unemployment in Nepal, a country of 30 million, stands at nearly 21%, far higher than other countries in the region. About one million Nepalese left their country last year to work or study abroad.
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has affected Gulf countries that host about two million Nepali migrant workers, could hamper Nepal because of its reliance on remittances. With the conflict potentially disrupting shipping and oil supplies, the new government in Nepal will have to deal with higher energy prices that could accelerate inflation and harm the country’s fragile economy.
