Balendra Shah Appointed as Nepalese Prime Minister

NEPAL – Balendra Shah, the leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), was on Friday appointed by the Nepalese President Ramchandra Paudel as the new prime minister, following his party’s landslide victory in parliamentary elections.

Shah, 35, is scheduled to take the oath of office later in the afternoon and then form his Cabinet after the RSP secured 182 of 275 seats in parliament, defeating established political parties.

Shah, also known as Balen, was elected RSP parliamentary party leader under a deal reached before he formally joined the party.

He resigned as mayor of Kathmandu before completing his five-year term to enter national politics.

Under the agreement, the RSP – founded by TV journalist-turned-politician Rabi Lamichhane ahead of the 2022 parliamentary election – backed Shah as its prime ministerial candidate while ranking him second in the party hierarchy.

Lamichhane and Shah both campaigned ahead of the vote.

Shah also defeated ousted Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli by a wide margin in Oli’s home constituency in Jhapa in eastern Nepal.