KATMANDU — Balendra Shah was sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister after his party won a landslide victory in elections earlier this month and following a youth-led uprising that toppled the government in September.The rapper-turned-politician was appointed the prime minister by President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday.Shah, the 35-year-old political outsider widely known as Balen, will lead a government tasked with navigating deep public frustration with Nepal’s established parties, who were widely blamed by voters for corruption and chronic political instability.Shah, who wore skin-tight trousers, a matching jacket, his signature black Nepali cloth cap and sunglasses at the ceremony, is Nepal’s youngest prime minister in decades and the first Madhesi – people of the southern plains bordering India – to lead the Himalayan nation that is wedged between Asian giants India and China.Shah was born in the capital Katmandu but his family comes from the Hindu-dominated Terai region of Nepal, near the border with India.A former mayor of the capital, Kathmandu, Shah became prime minister after his three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 182 seats in the 275-member parliament in the March 5 election, the first vote after the anti-corruption Gen Z protests in which 76 people were killed in September last year.In a new music video posted on his Facebook page on the eve of his swearing-in ceremony, Shah stressed patriotism and optimism for a bright future for Nepal.“Nepal is not scared this time, the heart is full of red blood … laughter and happiness will reach every household this time,” Shah sang in the video featuring visuals of large crowds cheering him during his election campaign.More than 200 Hindu priests and Buddhist lamas chanted hymns and peace prayers alongside the blowing of conch shells during the ceremony at the President House, attended by diplomats and senior government officials.After being sworn in, Shah picked 14 members to his cabinet, keeping his campaign promise of having a small team to cut state expenses. He named Swarnim Wagle, a Harvard-educated economist, as finance minister.“The first test of the new government lies in transparent and prompt delivery of services to people, who expect early signs of good governance from Sunday itself,” political analyst Puranjan Acharya said. Sunday is a working day in Nepal.
Keep Up to Date with our Weekly Newsletter
