Balen Shah Takes Oath As Nepal’s Youngest PM At 35 After Landslide Win
Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah– popularly generally known as Balen–has taken the oath as Nepal’s prime minister after sweeping the primary election since lethal anti-corruption protests toppled the federal government final 12 months. The 35-year-old was elected because the chief of the parliamentary get together of the Rastriya Swatantra Party on Thursday, paving his strategy to develop into Nepal’s youngest elected prime minister.
“I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge that I will be loyal to the constitution… and fulfil my duty as the prime minister,” Shah mentioned, wearing skin-tight trousers, an identical jacket, his signature black Nepali material cap and sun shades.
President Ram Chandra Poudel administered the oath of workplace after a ceremony involving scores of chanting Hindu clergymen and red-robed Buddhist monks. Shah is the primary Madhesi — an individual of the southern plains bordering India — in a long time to steer the Himalayan nation that’s wedged between Asian giants India and China.
Nepal selected former Kathmandu mayor and more energizing Shah and his RSP to type the following authorities, decimating the standard events within the first common elections since final 12 months’s violent Gen Z protests that sought generational change and a corruption-free regime. His RSP received 182 seats within the 275-member parliament within the March 5 election.
The Nepali Congress get together, the nation’s oldest get together, grew to become a distant second group in parliament with simply 38 seats. The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) of Oli, who was compelled to resign after the Gen Z unrest, controls 25 members.
The youth-led protests had been fuelled by a scarcity of jobs and endemic corruption within the nation of 30 million folks, the place a fifth of the inhabitants lives in poverty and an estimated 1,500 folks go away the nation day by day for work overseas. Political instability within the nation has additionally been a bane, with 32 governments taking workplace since 1990 and none of them finishing a five-year time period.
PM Modi Sends Wishes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Shah on his appointment as the brand new PM.
“Warm congratulations to Balendra Shah on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal,” he mentioned in a submit on X.
“Your appointment reflects the trust reposed in your leadership by the people of Nepal. I look forward to working closely with you to take India-Nepal friendship and cooperation to even greater heights for the mutual benefit of our two peoples,” PM Modi added.
Warm congratulations to Mr. Balendra Shah on being sworn in because the Prime Minister of Nepal.
Your appointment displays the belief reposed in your management by the folks of Nepal. I look ahead to working carefully with you to take India-Nepal friendship and cooperation to even…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 27, 2026
Ministers In Balen Shah’s Cabinet
RSP has additionally finalised the record of 14 ministers who’re going to be appointed within the authorities led by Shah. According to a Kathmandu Post report, the house ministry will likely be allotted to Sudan Gurung, who rose to prominence in the course of the Gen Z motion.
RSP vice-chair Swarnim Wagle will doubtless get the finance portfolio. Shishir Khanal, who heads RSP’s international affairs division, would be the minister for international affairs. Writer Khadka Raj (Ganesh) Paudel and journalist Pratibha Rawal are additionally among the many chosen names.
