KATHMANDU: Nepal`s parliament will Tuesday make its seventh attempt to elect a new prime minister and end a stalemate that has held up vital government spending and threatened the fragile peace process.
The country has been without a government since June 30, when former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal stood down under pressure from the opposition Maoist party to pave the way for a new national unity government.
Since then the parties have been unable to agree on the shape of the new administration and six earlier votes in the 601-member parliament have proved inconclusive, with none of the candidates securing an overall majority.
The Maoists, who fought a decade-long civil war against the state before transforming themselves into a political party and winning 2008 elections, hold the largest number of seats in parliament, but not enough to govern alone.
Maoist leader and former warlord Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better know as Prachanda or "the fierce one", is standing against Ram Chandra Poudel, chairman of the second-largest party in parliament, the centrist Nepali Congress.
The Maoists have been negotiating fiercely with an alliance of four smaller parties to secure fresh support for their candidate since the last poll, held on Sunday, in which Dahal won 240 votes.
The parties, which represent Nepal`s Madhesi ethnic minority, hold 82 seats between them -- enough to give the Maoists an overall majority.
But leaders of the four parties were said to be divided on whether to support the Maoist candidate ahead of Tuesday`s vote, due to be held at 3:00pm (0915 GMT).
"Discussion are ongoing to make today`s vote a success," said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a senior Maoist party leader. "We expect our vote to increase, but it is not yet clear by how much."
Nepal`s caretaker government has only limited powers and parliament has been unable to pass the annual budget, delaying much-needed public spending in one of the world`s poorest countries.
Work on drafting a new constitution, already well behind schedule, has been halted, while negotiations on integrating the Maoist and national armies are also a standstill.
BDST: 1328 HRS, September 07, 2010
