Nepal: Former PM KP Sharma Oli extends greetings to Balen Shah on electoral victory

In a post on X, Oli congratulated Shah and wished him a successful term.

"Balen Babu, Congratulations to you for the victory! May your five-year tenure be smooth and successful--heartfelt best wishes!" he said.

https://x.com/kpsharmaoli/status/2030287044061351972?s=20

Former Rapper and Mayor of Kathmandu Balendra Shah (Balen) has won the parliamentary election from Jhapa-5, defeating his arch rival, former Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the Election Commission announced.

With this, Balen has confirmed his Prime Ministership as he makes his way to the lower house of the parliament.

As per the Election Commission, Balen secured 68,348 votes while former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli trailed behind with 18,734 votes.

With this win, the Senior leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is set to become the next Prime Minister as the party has swept the election, securing a comfortable majority.

As per the results of the Election Commission, the RSP, formed about four years ago, has won 59 seats under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) category. The RSP is on course to secure an outright majority. Party leaders have repeatedly reassured the public that there is no internal dispute over the premiership.

First-ranking vice-chairperson DP Aryal said the party's top leaders, including Rabi Lamichhane and Balen Shah, were the reason voters supported the party, and the parliamentary leader and future Prime Minister will be Balen Shah.

The combined tally of direct and proportional seats exceeds the 138-seat majority threshold in the 275-member House of Representatives.

In 2022, a structural engineer with a signature pair of black rectangular sunglasses and a history in the underground rap scene did the unthinkable. Shah dismantled the established political machinery of Nepal to become the Mayor of Kathmandu.

Running as an independent under the symbol of a walking stick, Balen secured 61,767 votes, comfortably outstripping veterans Sirjana Singh of Nepali Congress, who fell back with 38,341 votes, while CPN-UML candidate Keshav Sthapit, also the former Mayor of the capital, got 38,117 votes.

Now, just four years later, the 35-year-old is no longer just a local phenomenon; he is poised to become one of the youngest Prime Ministers in the nation's history. (ANI)