UCPN (Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal got 241 votes from the 572 members who participated in the election. The number of parliamentarians who abstained in the exercise stood at 218. [break]
Dahal´s competitor, Nepali Congress´ Ram Chandra Poudel secured 123 votes in his favor from the 578 members who cast their votes. Those who abstained numbered 214.
The election will now be held on August 2. The decision was taken by the parliament´s Business Advisory Committee.
The deadlock continues as neither the UCPN (Maoist) nor the NC were able to secure the support of the third and fourth largest voting block in the parliament -- CPN-UML with 109 votes and the combine of four Madhesi parties with 82 stayed neutral.
While the UML has said it won´t vote unless consensus government is guaranteed, the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), MPRF (Democratic), Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Sadbhawana Party (SP) have said they would support the candidate who guarantees implementation of Madhesi agenda, which, among others, includes Madhesi autonomous province.
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