Nepal Poll Pits Ex-Rapper Against Old Guard for Gen-Z Vote

Nepal kicks off its first general election since a Gen Z-led uprising that ousted the former government last year, with a new crop of young candidates emerging to challenge the old guard’s grip on power in the Himalayan nation.

Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old former rapper-turned-politician who was previously the mayor of the capital Kathmandu, has emerged as a front-runner with backing from many of the young voters behind last year’s revolt. His party, the three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party, is supporting a corruption-busting platform of economic reform, channeling the grievances that animated the youth movement.