Parliament is holding a fresh vote as neither of the two candidates -- Pushpa Kamal Dahal of UCPN (Maoist) and Ram Chandra Poudel of Nepali Congress (NC) -- could muster a simple majority in the House in voting on Wednesday. [break] In the first round of voting, the UML party, which had fielded party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal as its candidate, withdrew the candidature as he could not show a two-thirds majority in his favor.
The UML CC meeting on Tuesday unanimously nominated Khanal as the party´s candidate but set the condition that UML lawmakers would vote for him only if he could produce support in writing from 401 lawmakers before the voting started.
"We have taken an unflinching stance in favor of forming a two-thirds majority government. The party withdrew my candidacy for that same reason. UML lawmakers will not cast their vote to elect a government with a simple majority," Khanal said at a press meet held at UML headquarters at Balkhu. He said UML lawmakers would not join a process of their own party forming a majority government, let alone supporting any other party doing the same thing.
The third largest party has also made a ´special request´ to the other major political parties to strive for a consensus government. "We request the other two candidates, who are in the fray, to play a positive role in forging a consensus," a statement issued by the party said.
The party said Khanal garnered the support in writing of 391 lawmakers despite the time constraints. "Mustering support from over 391 lawmakers in the House within 16 hours after the party took the decision is a historic achievement. We need to give continuity to it," Khanal said.
Asked if the caretaker government could be prolonged further in case of failure to elect a new prime minister from within parliament, he said a simple majority government had no relevance at all.
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