Two popular leaders have formed an alliance ahead of Nepal’s March parliamentary elections that will challenge older parties that have dominated the Himalayan nation’s politics for more than three decades, party officials and analysts said Monday.
Rapper turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, on Sunday joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) or independent national party, led by former television host turned politician Rabi Lamichhane, party officials said.
According to them, under the terms of the agreement with the RSP, Balen, 35, will become prime minister if the RSP wins the March 5 elections, while Lamichhane will remain the party leader.
Both pledged to address demands raised during “Generation Z” protests against widespread corruption in September, in which 77 people were killed and led to the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
“It is a very intelligent and strategic decision on the part of the RSP to include Balen and his young supporters,” said analyst Bipin Adhikari.
“Traditional political parties suffer from fear of losing their young voters to the RSP,” he said.
The election commission says nearly 19 million of Nepal’s 30 million people are eligible to vote in the elections. Nearly a million voters – mostly young people – were added after the protests.
Balen was in the spotlight after the protests and was an undeclared leader of the youth who led the September protests.
He also helped form the caretaker government of former chief justice Sushila Karki to oversee the vote.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) or UML and the centrist Nepal Congress party have shared power for most of the past three decades and are highly likely to be challenged by Balen.
