NEPAL’S youngest prime minister took the oath of office today after his party won a landslide victory in elections earlier this month.

Thirty-five-year-old Balendra Shah, widely known as Balen, was appointed by President Ram Chandra Paudel after his Rastriya Swatantra Party won nearly two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in the March 5 polls.

The elaborate swearing-in ceremony included Hindu rituals, such as the “shankhnaad” or blowing of conches, and religious chanting by Hindu priests and Buddhist lamas.

Mr Shah was born in the capital Kathmandu, but his family comes from the Hindu-dominated Terai region, near the border with India.

A structural engineer who rose to fame as a rap artist before becoming Kathmandu’s mayor, Mr Shah emerged as a prominent voice during the bloody youth-led uprising in September that toppled the government.

Although he didn’t directly participate in the protests, which left dozens of people dead, Mr Shah publicly expressed support for the largely Generation Z demonstrators who led the movement.