Nepal Elections: Balendra Shah’s party nears two-thirds majority

KATHMANDU: Nepali rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s alis Balen Shah Central RSP party won a majority in parliament on Thursday, winning 182 seats.

The results were released by the Election Commission of Nepal. The March 5 election saw voting for Nepal’s 275-member House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament), with 165 seats elected directly and 110 through proportional representation.

Election Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said the counting of votes for the House of Representatives elections had been completed.

The RSP won 125 of the 165 seats in the direct elections and another 57 through proportional representation, leaving it just two seats short of the two-thirds majority.

The Nepali Congress, the largest party in the previous parliament, won 38 seats, while the party of the Marxist government leader KP Sharma Oli could only win 25 seats. The Maoist party has 7 seats.

The Election Commission has directed the political parties concerned to submit the names of their candidates within 3 days. The elections were the first since the anti-corruption protests by youth in September 2025 that brought down the government.

The protests, which were sparked by demonstrators representing Generation Z, were initially against a social media ban but soon focused on broader public issues such as corruption and a weak economy.

Balendra Shah defeated four-time former prime minister KP Sharma Oli in his seat. The Marxist government of the 74-year-old Oli ended in protests last year.

The journey from mayor of Nepal’s capital to potential prime minister was a daring political gamble for Balendra Shah and is considered one of the most dramatic outcomes in recent Nepali politics.