Former rapper Balen Shah set to become Nepal’s youngest Prime Minister
The 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician gained traction with young voters during last year’s Gen Z protests, when his song became an unofficial anthem
Though vote counting is still underway in Nepal, 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician Balendra “Balen” Shah, is poised to become the country’s youngest prime minister after his party achieved a major victory in last week’s elections.
According to Nepal's Election Commission, Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has won at least 117 of the 165 directly elected parliamentary seats.
In a symbolic victory signaling the scale of Nepal's political transformation, Shah personally defeated four-time former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli in his district, securing 68,348 votes to Oli's 18,734.
The March 5 election was Nepal’s first national vote since the youth-led uprising last September that left at least 76 people dead.
During the protests, his song ‘Nepal Haseko’ (‘Nepal Smiling’) became the movement’s unofficial anthem.
Shah, then Kathmandu's mayor, emerged as a supporter of the digitally coordinated, leaderless movement driven by Gen Z anger over corruption and economic stagnation.
In January 2026, he resigned as mayor and joined the RSP to contest elections as its prime ministerial candidate.
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Before entering politics, Shah built his reputation in Nepal's underground hip hop scene, releasing music with lyrics that criticised corruption and inequality. He gained wider recognition through the rap battle series Raw Barz, nearly a decade before his 2022 election as mayor of Kathmandu, where he ran as an independent candidate.
Shah was trained as a structural engineer, with degrees from Himalayan Whitehouse International College in Nepal and Visvesvaraya Technological University in India. Through his music, he developed a following among young Nepalis frustrated by corruption and limited economic opportunities.
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His political career has also been marked by controversy; in 2023, he faced backlash after removing street vendors from Kathmandu’s roads without providing alternative options for them to continue their businesses.
However, the public seems to remain optimistic.
“Balen is our generation's test of hope, if corruption ends and justice arrives, the future begins; if not, hope may not return,” says Kathmandu-based artist Monica Tamang Goley, aka DJ Monika, to Mixmag Asia.
What began as protests against a social media ban has culminated in a dramatic political transformation in South Asia, with a former underground rapper at the helm.
Daniela Solano is a freelance writer for Mixmag Asia, follow her on Instagram here.
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