Web Desk/AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday congratulated Nepal&rsquo;s new Prime Minister Balendra Shah on winning the national elections, according to a post on his official X account. &ldquo;I congratulate Balen Shah on assuming office as the Prime Minister of Nepal after a landslide victory of Rashtriya Swantatra Party,&rdquo; PM Sharif added, &ldquo;Pakistan deeply values its longstanding and friendly relations with Nepal and looks forward to working closely.&rdquo;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2037435610689130669&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Flogin%2F&sessionId=ad3b4609defee31047de59400e5fe272e1548027&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 345px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;"></iframe></div></div>Rapper-turned-politician Shah was Kathmandu&rsquo;s mayor before he challenged and defeated the veteran Marxist leader KP Sharma Oli, the 74-year-old four-time ex-premier, in his own seat. Shah not only unseated Oli, but his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) party secured a landslide parliamentary majority, securing 182 of 275 seats in the lower house of parliament. He gave his victory speech in a rap song ahead of being sworn into office on Friday, where he sang &quot;unity is my national power&quot;. Born in Kathmandu in 1990, he was a schoolboy during Nepal&#39;s 1996-2006 Maoist civil war, which killed thousands and eventually ended the monarchy. Shah trained as a civil engineer but first gained national attention through Nepal&#39;s underground hip-hop scene, releasing songs that railed against corruption and inequality. His music, which has drawn millions of views online, helped him cultivate a devoted following on social media -- a platform he continues to favour over traditional outlets for communicating with supporters. That popularity translated into a political shock in 2022, when Shah became the first independent candidate elected mayor of Kathmandu, stunning Nepal&#39;s entrenched political establishment.

Foreign Affairs

Shehbaz Sharif congratulates Balendra Shah on becoming Nepal’s prime minister after a landslide election victory, pledging to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.

Pakistan's PM Sharif congratulates Nepal’s newly elected prime minister

JHAPA: Nepal&#39;s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah grinned and flashed a V-for-victory sign on Saturday as Election Commission officials confirmed he had beaten veteran leader KP Sharma Oli in their parliamentary constituency. The 35-year-old&#39;s party is also seemingly headed for a landslide victory nationally. His win over the 74-year-old Marxist leader, and his rise from the capital&#39;s mayor to potential prime minister, is one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics. The first-time parliamentary lawmaker toured the streets of his new constituency on Saturday evening, wearing his signature dark sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade through cheering crowds who chanted &quot;Balen&quot;, as he is better known. Shah, who did not make a speech, won more than three times the votes than four-time prime minister. The high-stakes election on Thursday came six months after deadly protests toppled the government led by Oli, with at least 77 people killed. The September 2025 youth-led demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy. Oli congratulated Balen on social media platform X later on Saturday, conceding defeat. &quot;Congratulations! Wish you a smooth and successful five-year tenure,&quot; Oli said. Nationwide, Shah&#39;s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on track to win a majority in the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, according to early trends issued by the Election Commission, although counting still has far to go. &quot;This is heading to a landslide victory -- this reflects the frustration that has been building up,&quot; said political analyst Chandra Dev Bhatta. &quot;It is actually the people&#39;s revolt against the established political parties,&quot; he said. &quot;The people understand that the new do not really have strong agendas, but it is a punishment to the parties for their decades-long poor governance.&quot; &nbsp;&#39;A day will come&#39;Shah leveraged his music fame and strong social media following to become Kathmandu&#39;s first independent mayor in 2022. Rojan Bhattarai, 22, a student in Jhapa, said Shah was &quot;a performer&quot;. &quot;I was 99.99 percent sure he would win, but the majority is shocking. That shows how much the people were upset with the previous government,&quot; Bhattarai told AFP. &quot;He has inspired us all.&quot; There were 76 declared results by Saturday evening. RSP took 61, Nepali Congress won nine, and Oli&#39;s Marxist party was trailing with three. Former Maoist guerrilla commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal&#39;s party has one. Trends showed Shah&#39;s RSP was also leading in 61 of the remaining 89 constituencies in the direct elections. It had secured comfortably more than half of the ballots counted so far in the proportional representation vote, which determines a further 110 seats through party lists. Election Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said RSP has &quot;taken the lead in many places&quot;, but that full results were still days away. &quot;According to our plan, it will take at least a week to <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/nepal-counts-votes-after-key-postuprising-election" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">count the proportional votes</a>, after which the election will go through the official process,&quot; he said. He said the count was &quot;going smoothly&quot; across the Himalayan nation, from snowbound mountain regions to the hot plains bordering India. Nepali Congress, the largest party in the past coalition government, also saw its new leader, Gagan Thapa, trailing in his constituency. &quot;This is even a bigger upset than we expected; it underscores the level of public disenchantment with the old parties for under-performance, as well as anger over the events of September,&quot; said Kunda Dixit, publisher of the weekly Nepali Times. The <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/nepals-gen-z-pins-hopes-on-postuprising-elections" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">burnt-out ruins of Oli&#39;s home in Jhapa</a>, torched during the unrest, like hundreds of other buildings, including parliament, served as a reminder of last year&#39;s deadly violence. Dharmakala Gautam, 74, who watched the house burn, said she was tired of promises that never materialised. &quot;When the Maoists came to rule, we hoped for change, but not much happened,&quot; she said. &quot;I will keep some hope this time too.&quot;

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) election candidate Balendra Shah (C) shows a victory sign after collecting a certificate following his win in parliamentary elections at the counting centre in Damak in Nepal's Jhapa district on March 7, 2026.

Nepal

His win over the 74-year-old Marxist leader, and his rise from the capital's mayor to potential prime minister, is one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics.

Articles tagged with "Balendra Shah"

Pakistan's PM Sharif congratulates Nepal’s newly elected prime minister

Rapper-turned-politician Shah unseats former Nepal PM in own constituency