A 35-year-old former rapper is on track to become Nepal’s next prime minister. Early counting in the elections on Friday (7 March) showed Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was leading in around 100 seats, far ahead of rivals.
The election is the first in the South Asian country since a youth-led uprising over a social media ban and government corruption in September 2025 killed 77 people and forced then Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to reign.
The Nepali Congress, currently in second place, has already conceded defeat. Final results are expected within days.
Shah, who was previously mayor of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, joined the RSP last year as its candidate for prime minister.
The RSP has promised to create 1.2 million jobs, increase Nepal’s per capita income from $1,447 to $3,000 and provide safety nets such as healthcare insurance for the entire population within five years.
Unemployment and low wages have pushed millions of Nepalis to search for work overseas in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Around 1.67 million Nepali citizens emigrated in 2024.
As mayor of Kathmandu, Shah focused on improving urban infrastructure, such as waste management, as well as healthcare.
But he also faced criticism, including from Human Rights Watch, for allegedly using police to seize the properties of street vendors and landless people.
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Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 30 September 2026. These are the top five stories making headlines in Europe.
Passengers restrained a flydubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the pilot and tried to crash a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
Passengers restrained a flydubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the pilot and tried to crash a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
Three Pakistani sailors are among five crew members killed after a tanker hijacked by pirates off Somalia was recovered by Puntland security forces following more than five months in captivity.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev discussed closer bilateral ties and the implementation of existing agreements during a meeting in Tehran.
The war between Iran and the U.S. is creating a widening security challenge for Saudi Arabia, stretching from Yemen’s Red Sea coast to Iraq as the Houthis emerge as a growing source of pressure on the kingdom.
North Korea has dismissed as a “farce” Seoul’s claim that Pyongyang was responsible for a landmine explosion south of the Military Demarcation Line that injured three South Korean soldiers.
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