Round II also unlikely to elect PM

KATHMANDU, July 21: The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of parliament has decided to hold another round of voting on Friday to pick a new prime minister. But chances are that the second round election will also fail to give the country a new prime minister.

The possibility of electing a new prime minister appears slim even in the next round of voting as the CPN-UML is very unlikely to vote in favor of a NC-led majority government, and the efforts of the Maoists, who have 237 seats in parliament, to woo Madhes-based parties seem to be in vain.

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and NC Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel are in the fray for the next round of voting. While the support of the Madhesi parties is a must for the formation of a Maoist-led government, the UML must lend its support if a NC-led government is to take shape, in the current mathematical equation in parliament.

UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, whose party withdrew his candidacy for the sake of a ´national consensus government´ despite garnering the support of 391 parliamentarians, said there will be no new prime minister as long as the parties fail to arrive at consensus on a national government.

"We will not vote in favor of any candidate in the next round of voting," he added.

NC, which has 114 seats in the 601-member parliament, must garner support from the UML to form a majority government with the support of Madhes-based parties.

* There will be no new prime minister in the country until there is national consensus. We will not vote in favor of any candidate in the next round of voting.
--Jhala Nath Khanal, UML chairman

* Bitterness in the UML is so fresh I am not hopeful the UML central committee will be able to take a decision to vote for the NC´s candidate on Friday.
--A senior NC leader

While the UML has 108 seats (excluding speaker), the alliance of the four Madhes-based parties -- Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D), MPRF, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party and Sadbhawana Party -- has 82 seats.

While TMDP and MPRF-D are against supporting a Maoist-led government, the MPRF led by Upendra Yadav also appears divided over supporting the Maoists. Party leaders said the Sadbhawana Party is also not very likely to break its alliance with the three other Madhes-based parties to support the Maoists.

NC leaders likewise seem not very optimistic that Friday´s vote will give the country a new prime minister. "Bitterness in the UML is so fresh. I am not hopeful the UML central committee will be able to take a decision to vote for the NC´s candidate on Friday," said a senior NC leader privy to negotiations between NC and the UML.

A BAC meeting on Wednesday morning had agreed to hold a second round of voting on Friday should the first round fail to elect a prime minister.

According to NC Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire, the Maoists, NC and UML had agreed to a proposal by Speaker Subas Nembang to complete the task of electing a new prime minister at the earliest as the country has been left with a caretaker prime minister since July 1.

Nembang himself had proposed holding the next round of voting on Friday. Sources said NC candidate Poudel had asked the party chief whips to fix the second round of voting for the earliest possible date.

Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=21301