Two relatively new leaders in the country of Nepal have come together just in time for the parliamentary election that is set to take place in March, offering a serious challenge to the established political parties that have dominated this mountainous country for over thirty years. Government leaders and political analysts have described this coming together as a very big thing for the country.
Balendra Shah, aged 35, is now serving as the Kathmandu mayor. Before politics, Balendra Shah was a known musician and rapper in his former life. He was under the national independent party headed by Rabi Lamichhane, who was a television host prior to becoming a politician. The politicians announced this agreement on Sunday.
If the team of the mayor and the national independent party wins the elections to be held on March 5, then the mayor of their group, a young man of only 35, will be their prime minister, according to the pact between the mayor and the national independent party. The political party leader, Mr Lamichhane, a 48-year-old man, will continue to be the head of the political party, states the agreement.
Youth Anger in Relation to Poor Rule
The large-scale protests last fall began with a group of young individuals who were quite annoyed with the cheating and misuse of public money. These protests turned out to be serious, resulting in the death of 77 citizens and forcing the former prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, to resign from his position.
Observers of politics believe this is a rather shrewd move on the part of the national-independent party to include Mayor Shah and his fanatical young followers in their fold. Political observers also believe that the traditional political groups are now gripped by fear that the young voters are drifting towards the young and dynamic party.
The election office estimates that nearly 19 million people in Nepal are eligible to vote in the upcoming election. Nearly a million new voters were added to the electoral list after the anger expressed during the September protest and most of them were young citizens. Mayor Shah received considerable media coverage following the protest, and he was considered the leader of the young people who staged the protest.
Old Parties Face a New Challenge
Old parties are those whose two main parties are the Communist Party, headed by Mr Oli, and the centre party known as Nepali Congress. They have alternatively headed the administration of Nepal for most of the past thirty years. These two parties are most probably going to face the greatest challenge from the combo of Mayor Shah and Mr Lamichhane.
Mr Lamichhane formed his own independent party shortly before the last election and is quite popular since he had been vigorously expressing his dislike of bad government interactions when he was a TV host. Presently, he is on bail as he is being investigated concerning allegations that he may have misused funds collected from small savings groups.
A spokesperson for the Nepali Congress Party has also added his voice to the issue, commenting that Mayor Shah is a leader who has had some questions raised about his activities in the past, while Mr Lamichhane is also the same. The spokesperson felt that the new alliance between the two may not really influence the elections much when the time comes.
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