Nepal parliament fails for third time to elect premier (Roundup)

Aug 2, 2010, 18:28 GMT

Kathmandu - Nepal's parliament on Monday failed for a third time to elect a prime minister, with neither candidate able to muster a majority.

The proposal to elect a new prime minister was unapproved after a stalemate between Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Ram Chandra Poudel.

The failure to elect an executive head has left the Himalayan nation in continued political limbo.

Poudel won a total of 124 votes and Dahal won 159 votes. 581 parliamentarians out of a possible 599 voted in Monday's election.

It is the third time that Maoist candidate Dahal and Nepali Congress leader Poudel failed to garner a tally of 300 votes needed to win the election.

Monday's poll failed to yield any result after two major parties, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxists and Leninists (UML) and Unified Lokatantrik Madhesi Forum refrained from voting.

Voting, which was slated to begin at 1600 (1000 GMT), was delayed by over four hours, as the wrangling between the political parties over their choice of candidate continued.

Two previous rounds in July failed to elect a prime minister.

The failure to elect an executive head, after several rounds of voting in the parliament, has left the Himalayan nation in a limbo.

That political vacuum has been in place in Nepal since Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned on June 30. Nepal, who is currently the caretaker prime minister, had stepped down amid after calls by the Maoists for his resignation.