Nepal parliament fails to elect Prime Minister even after fifth round voting

Nepal parliament failed to elect new Prime Minister even after the fifth round of voting held on Monday.
The parliament failed to elect successor of Madhav Kumar Nepal after both the candidates --- Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel --- in the race failed to garner sufficient votes to get elected to the post.
The candidates failed to secure majority votes in the 601-member parliament as the third largest party CPN-UML and the alliance of four Madhesi-parties -- United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) – chose to stay neutral yet again.
While Maoist prime ministerial candidate Dahal secured a total 246 votes in his favor his opponent Poudel secured 111 votes. Remaining others of the total 567 lawmakers present in the voting on Monday opted for 'no vote' section in the ballot paper.
With its failure to elect new prime minister, parliament is set to hold sixth round of voting for prime minister on September 5. A meeting of the parliamentary Business Advisory Committee (BAC) made a decision to this effect.
Amid mounting pressure from the main opposition party Maoist, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal tendered his resignation on July 1. Since then there have been already five rounds of voting in the parliament to choose his successor, but with no results yet.( Asian Tribune )