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Nepal's Maoists seek support to lead new government
Agence France Presse - September 6, 2010
Kathmandu – Nepal's Maoist party scrambled Monday to win fresh support for its bid to head the next government, a day ahead of parliament's seventh attempt to elect a new prime minister.
Nepal 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 power-sharing administration.
Since then, political leaders have been unable to agree on the shape of the new government and six earlier attempts to choose a new prime minister have failed, with neither of the two candidates securing an absolute majority.
The Maoists, who fought a decade-long civil war against the state before transforming themselves into a political party and winning a 2008 election, hold the largest number of seats in parliament, but not enough to govern alone.
Their candidate, party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, won 240 votes in the latest vote, held on Sunday. His only opponent Ram Chandra Poudel, chairman of the second-largest party in parliament, the centrist Nepali Congress, took 122.
But the Maoists now say they are close to winning the support of an alliance of four smaller parties for Dahal, better known by his nom de guerre Prachanda or "the fierce one".
The four parties represent Nepal's Madhesi ethnic minority and hold 82 of the 601 seats in parliament, enough to secure a victory for the Maoists.
Party leaders are reported to be in talks about forming a coalition government, although no deal has yet been done.
"We have asked the Madhesi parties to vote for us in the next election to end the stalemate," Maoist chief whip Post Bahadur Bogati told AFP. "We urge them not to continue holding the country hostage by maintaining a neutral position."
If Dahal wins Tuesday's vote it will be his second stint as prime minister. He headed a Maoist-led coalition government formed in 2008, but resigned in May 2009 after a row with the then army chief over the integration of former Maoist combatants into the military.
The long leadership vacuum in Nepal has held up the annual budget, delaying much-needed public spending in one of the world's poorest countries.
On Sunday the speaker of the house Subas Nembang said people were growing increasingly frustrated by the stalemate and warned of a "serious crisis" if it persisted.
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