The engineer of a new Nepal

Shah campaigning in Nepal. Shah led his party to a landslide victory in Nepal’s first election since its youth-led revolution. A former rapper, he is on the brink of becoming the country’s youngest prime minister ever. — Hannah Reyes Morales/The New York Times

IN his 35 years, Balendra Shah has been a rapper, a mayor, a structural engineer, and an unswerving fan of rectangular sunglasses.

He is now on the brink of becoming Nepal’s youngest-ever prime minister after his party scored a landslide victory in elections earlier this month.