Nepal's rapper-turned-politician looks set for landslide win
The high-stakes parliamentary election on Thursday came six months after deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government last year, when at least 77 people were killed.
The September 2025 youth-led demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy.
According to early trends issued by the Election Commission Saturday, 35-year-old Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on track to win a potential two-thirds supermajority in the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament.
"Looking at the trend, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has taken the lead in many places and has won several seats," commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told AFP.
If the trends are confirmed by the vote count, Shah's victory over the veteran Marxist leader -- and his rise from city mayor to potential prime minister -- would mark one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics.
'A day will come'
By Saturday morning, on the second day of counting, there were only 24 declared results -- RSP took 18, Nepali Congress won five, and the Marxist party of ousted prime minister KP Sharma Oli was trailing with one.
But trends showed that Shah's RSP was also leading in 99 of the 165 constituencies in the direct elections.
It had secured comfortably more than half of votes so far counted in the proportional representation vote, which determines a further 110 seats via party lists.
Bhattarai said results from direct elections would be ready by Monday, but longer for full results to be ready.
"According to our plan, it will take at least a week to count the proportional votes, after which the election will go through the official process," he added.
He said that "vote counting going smoothly" across the Himalayan nation, from snowbound high-altitude mountain regions to the hot plains bordering India.
On Friday, Shah's party loyalists danced on the streets of Kathmandu in celebration -- even though votes counted remain low, and final results could take days.
DP Aryal, RSP deputy chairman, issued a message urging supporters to hold back on celebrations.
"Once we work, a day will come for us to celebrate", he said, in a post on social media late Friday.
Shah has also taken a commanding lead in the seat he is contesting -- a head-to-head contest against the 74-year-old ousted prime minister Oli, symbolising the clash between the old guard and a youth-driven call for change.
Nepali Congress, the largest party in the past coalition government, saw its new leader Gagan Thapa trailing in his own constituency.