Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, on Friday (March 27, 2026) became Nepal’s new Prime Minister, the youngest in the country’s recent political history.
The 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician was sworn in by President Ram Chandra Poudel at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Kathmandu, marking the end of the transition triggered by last September’s Gen Z protests, which overthrew the K.P. Sharma Oli government and installed an interim administration led by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki.
