Deadlock continues, next vote on Aug 2

KATHMANDU, July 23: The deadlock in the election of the new prime minister by parliament continued Friday with neither candidate getting a simple majority.

UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal got 241 votes out of 572 votes cast. The number of parliamentarians who voted to stay neutral in his round was 218.

Nepali Congress (NC) leader Ram Chandra Poudel secured 123 out of 578 votes cast in his round. Of the total, 241 members voted against and 214 cast neutral votes. Twenty seven members abstained from voting in Dahal´s round while 21 chose to abstain at Poudel´s turn. The 601-seat parliament has 599 active members as a case regarding two memberships is at the Supreme Court.

The third round voting for a new prime minister will be held on August 2. Speaker Subas Nembang announced this following a decision to this effect taken by parliament´s Business Advisory Committee (BAC).

The deadlock continues as neither the Maoists nor the NC were able to secure the support of the third and fourth largest voting blocks -- CPN-UML with 109 votes and the combine of four Madhesi parties with 82.

UML has said it wouldn´t vote unless a consensus government is guaranteed. Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), MPRF (Democratic), Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Sadbhawana Party (SP) have said they would support whoever guarantees implementation of the Madhesi agenda including formation of a Madhes autonomous province.

Dahal seemed confident the third round would be final. "The next round will resolve things and that will be final," Dahal told reporters after the second round voting.

The UML, which withdrew the candidacy of party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, is deeply divided whether to stick to its decision or reconsider. Khanal has reiterated that the party wouldn´t budge from its decision. Khanal told reporters, "The same process will repeat in the third round if there is no consensus."

However, caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is in favor of finding a new solution. "We need to resolve this never-ending process at the earliest through an amicable method," he said.

Poudel claimed that the NC should be given an opportunity to lead the government even if other parties are for a consensus coalition. "It is the turn of the NC [to lead a new government] if all want national consensus in the true sense," he told reporters.

Earlier on Friday, both NC and the Maoists tried to woo other parties´ support for forming a new government.

Poudel and other NC leaders met Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa to seek support. RPP-N has 4 seats in parliament. Likewise, Maoist leader Barsha Man Pun and Dev Gurung reached Singha Durbar to hold talks with leaders of the Madhesi parties.

Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=21373