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Projected As Next Nepal PM Balen Shah Launch Campaign In Kathmandu As Election Draws Close

Balen (Balendra) Shah, former Kathmandu Mayor and rapper, is projected as the next Nepali Prime Minister. He arrives at the premises of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 28, 2026, as he starts campaigning in the capital. The rapper turned mayor resigns from his post on January 18 to contest the March 5 election. The former rapper, who wins the local election of 2022 from the Nepali capital, also assumes the charge of senior leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) on the same day. Projected as the next Nepal Prime Minister, Balendra Shah (Balen) launches a Kathmandu-centric campaign as the election draws close, with polling set for March 5. Balen stands in the fray from Jhapa, standing against former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, and launches the campaign in Kathmandu with a road-show. Hundreds of supporters and voters stand on the side of the road as the projected Prime Minister, alongside the party president Rabi Lamichhane, greets voters from a moving vehicle. The silence period for the election of the House of Representatives, dissolved after September's Gen-Z protest, is set to start from March 2, past midnight. Balen campaigns all across the nation as his party, Rastriya Swatantra Party, is poised to win the election with a landslide victory. On December 28, Balen strikes a deal with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) where it is agreed that he will be the next Prime Ministerial candidate from the party. As per the 7-point agreement, RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane continues as the party's central chairman, while Shah will be presented as the party's parliamentary leader after the elections and its prime ministerial candidate. The RSP emerges as the fourth largest political force, winning 21 seats in the dissolved House of Representatives within a year of its establishment. Balen promises to institutionalize the agenda raised by September's Gen-Z movement. The electoral battle in Jhapa-5 shapes up to be an intriguing contest this time.

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