Balendra Shah, the parliamentary leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), was sworn in as Nepal's democratically elected Prime Minister today. The 35-year-old RSP leader, who became the country's youngest Prime Minister, took the oath of office and secrecy from President Ramchandra Paudel at the President's Office in Sheetal Niwas.
Yesterday, the RSP, which secured a landslide victory in the recently concluded parliamentary elections with a near two-thirds majority, elected Shah as its parliamentary party leader, paving the way for him to become the country's 47th Prime Minister. Shah was appointed by Paudel earlier in the day in accordance with Article 76 (1) of the constitution.
Shah is the first democratically elected prime minister to be sworn in since the coalition government led by former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli was ousted in September last year, following the youth-led Gen Z protest against corruption, nepotism, and a ban on social media, which escalated into violence.