Votes counted so far show Balendra Shah and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) are on track to win the general election.
14 hours ago
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Votes are still being counted but rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah has taken a decisive early lead in Nepal's general election which would put him on track to become the country's next prime minister.
Thursday's election saw Shah - who until January was the mayor of the capital, Kathmandu - up against other contenders including former prime minister KP Oli from the Communist Party of Nepal UML, as well as Gagan Thapa from the Nepali Congress.
By Friday evening local time, election officials said votes counted so far showed Shah's centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party, or RSP (National Independent Party), was ahead in more than two-thirds of the 165 directly elected seats, BBC Nepali reported.
The Nepali Congress, is a long way behind in second and the UML in third.
Full results may not come before next week. Vote counting is traditionally slow in Nepal, a mountainous country, and helicopters have to be used to gather ballots in the more remote regions, so it could take days before the final outcome is known.
In the last election in 2022, it took a little more than two weeks for the final results to be released.
Popularly known as Balen, the 35-year-old trained as a structural engineer and has been a member of the Nepali hip hop scene, known as Nephop, for several years.
He has released several songs, often with socially conscious themes. One of the best-known, "Balidan", which means sacrifice in the Nepali language, has millions of views on YouTube.
Shah's popularity among the country's youth increased during last year's protests, which were triggered by a ban on social media but fuelled by anger against corruption, unemployment and economic stagnation.
Seventy-seven people were killed, many of them protesters shot by police, and Nepal's then leader, KP Oli, was forced to stand down. This hasn't deterred the 74-year-old from running again in this election and he has expressed confidence that he could win.
Shah spoke up in support of the protesters and at one point called KP Oli a "terrorist" who had betrayed his country.
This and other public comments he has made have left some arguing that he isn't fit to run the country.
As mayor he was also criticised by rights groups for using the police against street vendors and landless people in a heavy-handed manner, as he worked to keep roads clear in the capital and crack down on unlicensed businesses. Shah's campaign did not respond to a BBC request for comment.
Shah has contested the election in the same constituency as Oli - Jhapa 5 -traditionally a stronghold for the latter candidate. Vote counting so far indicates that Shah is significantly ahead.
He has avoided interviews with the media while on the campaign trail and refused to speak directly to the press on election day, turning up in his signature black sunglasses and storming through a crowd of journalists.
That's a trend Nepal's media worry would continue if he took office. Yet, many of the young voters the BBC spoke to believe his youth and energy are exactly what the country needs, and that he represents a new chapter in Nepal's future.
Reuters
As well as casting their ballots on Thursday to elect the country's next leader, they also voted to determine 275 members of parliament.
This was done through a mixture of first past the post and proportional representation, with each person getting two votes.
A total of165 MPs is elected in a first-past-the-post system, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins the seat. The election of a further 110 MPs takes into account the proportion of votes cast for a political party nationally.
Nearly 19 million people were eligible to vote in this election and officials said on Thursday after polls closed that they expected the turnout to be around 60%.
Coming off the back of last year's protests, this election has been seen as a contest between old and new.
The RSP, currently in the lead, came fourth in the last general election in 2022.
The country's youth - including 800,000 first-time voters - have been a key voter bloc, which political parties have tried to court with manifesto promises of job creation, tackling corruption and better governance.
For more than three decades, Nepal has seen a revolving door of coalition governments, largely dominated by three parties, two of them communist.
This time, none have made a significant nationwide alliance, meaning there will be a greater sense of where the parties and their candidates stand among the voter base.
There have also been a lot of new parties and new faces in this election, with a third of the candidates standing as independents.
All of this suggests many Nepalis are seeking new ideas and leaders that better suit their aspirations.
Were Balen Shah to be elected, it would be a seismic moment for Nepal's politics after decades of unstable coalition governments led by the same old faces.
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