Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah will be sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister after a landslide election win on a youth reform platform.
KATHMANDU: Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah will be sworn in as Nepal’s new prime minister on Friday. The 35-year-old reformist swept to power this month on a platform of youth-driven political change.
His victory follows a deadly anti-corruption youth uprising six months ago that toppled the previous government. At least 77 people were killed in the protests, which tapped into longstanding fury over economic hardship.
Shah, better known as Balen, issued his first public statement since winning the March 5 election in a rap song. “The strength of unity is my national power,” Shah sang in the track, which has garnered nearly three million views.
His Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won a commanding majority of 182 seats in the 275-seat House of Representatives. Shah campaigned alongside RSP president Rabi Lamichhane, a former deputy prime minister and combative television host.
“My heart is full of courage, my red blood is boiling; my brothers stand with me, this time we will rise,” Shah added in his song. The video featured footage of him campaigning for election.
Outgoing interim prime minister Sushila Karki bid farewell to the nation in a televised broadcast shortly after the rap song was released. The 73-year-old former chief justice expressed confidence in the younger generation’s leadership.
“I am confident that the new government… will work towards ending corruption in the country, establishing good governance, creating jobs within the country, economic development and social justice,” Karki said.
Karki also stated that a report from an investigation into the crackdown on protesters would be released. A leaked copy of the report seen by AFP recommends the prosecution of ex-prime minister KP Sharma Oli, who was toppled in the uprising.
Four-time prime minister Oli, 74, was defeated by Shah in his own constituency. The report also recommends investigating and prosecuting former interior minister Ramesh Lekhak and ex-police chief Chandra Kuber Khapung.
Lekhak bore “overall responsibility for home administration, security agencies, and maintaining law and order”, the report said. It added that he and Oli “did not appear to have made any effort… to prevent further human casualties”.
The report said it was “not established that there was an order to shoot”. It concluded that “no effort was made to stop or control the firing and, due to their negligent conduct, even minors lost their lives”.
In 48 of the 63 completed autopsies, victims died from bullet wounds to the chest or head. At least 19 young people were killed in a crackdown on the first day of protests, with no convictions for the killings to date.
