Former rapper could be Nepal’s prime ministerial candidate

Two popular leaders have formed an alliance ahead of Nepal’s national elections due in March. Analysts say the alliance could pose a major challenge to the country’s old and dominant political parties.
Kathmandu mayor and former rapper Balen, (Bendra Shah), has joined the RSP alliance, officials from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSP) said on Sunday (December 28). Former television presenter and politician Ravi Lamichhane is leading the party. According to the agreement, if the RSP wins the March 5 election, Balen, 35, will become prime minister and Lamichhane, 48, will serve as party chief.
Balen rose to fame after a movement in September and was known as a leader of the youth movement. He also served as part of the interim government led by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki and supervised the elections. However, some critics have questioned Balen’s role during the movement, as he has rarely appeared in public and has mainly spoken to supporters on social media.
Ravi Lamichhane founded the RSP before the 2022 elections and gained popularity as a television presenter campaigning against corruption. However, he is currently out on bail on charges of misappropriating small depositors’ cooperative funds. Both leaders of the alliance have claimed that they will implement the demands of the youth-led anti-corruption movement in September in the upcoming elections. That movement left 77 people dead and forced the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign.
According to the Election Commission, the number of eligible voters in Nepal, with a population of about 30 million, is about 19 million. Since the movement, about 1 million new voters have joined, most of them young. Political analyst Bipin Adhikari said that traditional political parties are worried about losing young voters. In this context, bringing Balen and his young supporters into the party is a strategic move for the RSP.
The new alliance could pose a major challenge to Oli’s Nepal Communist Party (UML) and the moderate Nepali Congress party, which have ruled under a power-sharing arrangement for more than three decades. However, Nepali Congress spokesman Prakash Sharan Mahat said that both Balen and Lamichhane are “controversial” leaders and that the impact of their alliance would be limited. He believes that ultimately people will choose the older and more experienced parties and there will be no major political changes in the alliance.
Source: Reuters