2026 Nepalese general election Partial preliminary results in Nepal indicate that the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 60 of 165 first-past-the-post seats, while also...

Preliminary and partial results show that a new political party led by an ex-rapper is leading Nepal’s parliamentary election, the country’s first since last year’s revolt.

Balendra Shah, foreground, former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City and prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, receives his victory certificate after defeating former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) in Jhapa, about 267 miles (...

Balendra Shah, foreground, former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City and prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, arrives to receive his victory certificate after defeating former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) in Jhapa, about 2...

Supporters of Rastriya Swatantra Party celebrate the victory of Toshima Karki, a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives in Lalitpur, Nepal, Saturday, March 7, 2026.

KATHMANDU, Nepal () — Preliminary and partial results released Saturday showed a new political party led by an ex-rapper is in front in Nepal’s parliamentary election, the country’s first since last year’s youth-led revolt.

The Rastriya Swatantra, or National Independent, party, had already won 60 of 165 directly elected seats and was leading in 61 other constituencies in the results published by Nepal’s Election Commission.

Its prime ministerial candidate is rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, who won the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race and emerged as a leading figure in the 2025 uprising that ousted former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli.

The 35-year-old highlighted health and education for poor Nepalis as a key focus of his campaign, which rode a wave of public anger toward traditional political parties.

Shah, running directly against Oli in a southeastern district, won the seat with a wide margin securing almost four times as many votes as the former prime minister.

The 13 seats announced so far for other parties went to the Nepal Congress party and two communist parties.

Voters are directly electing 165 members to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Parliament.

The remaining 110 seats in the 275-member body will be allocated through a proportional representation system, under which political parties are allocated seats based on their share of the vote.

Vote counting was continuing in most of the country’s constituencies Saturday and final results are expected within the next two days.

Ballot boxes were being collected from remote mountain villages in the northern parts of the country using helicopters.

The political importance lies in whether the issue moves from public comment into formal action, party response, court record, election authority notice or administrative decision.

For public institutions and political groups, the next test is whether the issue remains a public argument or turns into a formal response, legal proceeding, administrative instruction or election-related communication.