Non-politicians as national leaders

Balendra (Balen) Shah, Gen-Z's choice in Nepal.
Image courtesy: BBC

Politics is for politicians, right? They spend decades climbing the ladder; beginning as party workers, legislators and ministers before finally reaching the top.

But not always. Voters sometimes prefer non-politicians to lead their country.

The most recent example comes from Nepal, where rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah is widely expected to become the country’s next prime minister after his party, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party, won the recent elections.

The 35-year-old rapper first became famous for songs criticising corruption and the political establishment. In 2022, he became the first independent candidate to be elected mayor of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

He has a Bengaluru connection too. He did his M Tech in Structural Engineering from Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology in the city.

GEN-Z's CHOICE

This election must be one of the few where the Gen-Z have changed the political landscape of an entire nation through an election.

Many voters, particularly young people, are quite frustrated with traditional parties, which they feel have failed to address corruption, unemployment and poor governance. Shah’s popularity as a rapper helped him connect with this sentiment. 

His tenure as Kathmandu’s mayor only strengthened his image as an outsider willing to challenge the system, and that momentum seems to have carried him to national politics.

Actually, this is a familiar pattern across the world. When voters grow frustrated with traditional parties, they often look for fresh faces from outside politics.

COMEDY STAGE TO PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE

One of the most striking examples is Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

Before entering politics, he was a comedian, actor and television producer. In a curious twist of fate, he even played the role of a fictional president in a popular television series. In 2019, voters elected him president in real life.

What he has been dealing with since then, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is anything but funny.

Another television comedian who became president was Jimmy Morales of Guatemala, who was elected in 2015.  

AMERICAN EXAMPLES

The United States has seen several leaders who began their careers outside politics.

Ronald Reagan, who became president in 1981, was a Hollywood actor who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s.

Then, decades later, came, Donald Trump, a real-estate businessman and television personality, whom most countries around the world, with a few exceptions, are finding difficult to deal with. 

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a five-star general during the Second World War before serving two terms as US president from 1953 to 1961.

Another Second World War general who later became a national leader was Charles de Gaulle of France. He served as president for ten years from 1959.

Woodrow Wilson, who held a PhD in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University, moved from academia into politics. He served as governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913 and then as US president from 1913 to 1921.

Britain had a leader who began his career in journalism. Boris Johnson, who served as mayor of London, foreign secretary and prime minister, earlier worked as a journalist with The Daily Telegraph and later became editor of The Spectator.

In the Philippines, hugely popular action-movie star Joseph Estrada was elected president in 1998.

In Europe, playwright and dissident Václav Havel became president of Czechoslovakia in 1989. After the country split on 1 January 1993, he continued as president of the Czech Republic until 2003.

In Poland, shipyard electrician and trade-union leader Lech Wałęsa was elected president in 1990 after leading the Solidarity movement.

Sport has also produced a national leader.

Former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan, who played at the international level from 1971 to 1992 and was hugely popular in India, served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

INDIA'S EXAMPLES

India too has seen many public figures from outside politics entering public life.

Perhaps the most famous is M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. A hugely successful film star in Tamil Nadu, he served as chief minister for a decade from 1977.

Jayalalithaa, another star from Tamil cinema, served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu for a total of 14 years between 1991 and 2016.

Yet another was N T Rama Rao, revered by cinema fans for portraying mythological characters on screen. He founded the Telugu Desam Party in 1982 and became chief minister of Andhra Pradesh the following year.

Economist and academic Manmohan Singh served as India’s prime minister from 2004 to 2014. But he was not directly elected by the people; he was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament.

Arvind Kejriwal, a mechanical engineer who later joined the Indian Revenue Service, first became known as an anti-corruption activist before entering politics and becoming chief minister of Delhi in 2013. He faced allegations of, ironically corruption and lost elections in February last year. A lower court, last month, acquitted him of all the charges.  

WHY VOTERS CHOOSE OUTSIDERS

There is usually a pattern behind these political surprises. Outsiders tend to succeed when:

• Public are frustrated with traditional politicians
  
  
• Established political parties appear too similar in policies and people want change
  
  
• Younger voters look for new ideas
  
  
• Leaders capitalise on a major social or economic issue, like price rise or corruption
  
  
• They get high visibility on media and social platforms and become popular

GOVERNANCE IS DIFFERENT

Whether non-politicians succeed in governing is altogether another question. Running a government is no easy task. It requires skills in areas like administration, team management, and resolving crises.

But one thing is sure. Over decades we have seen that voters are ready to take the risk, look out of the box, and experiement with leadership.