http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=PM+vacuum+continues+with+lowest+turnout+in+4th+round&NewsID=252534
<http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=PM+vacuum+continues+with+lowest+turnout+in+4th+round&NewsID=252534> PM vacuum continues with lowest turnout in 4th round ARUN RAI *2010-08-06 4:29 PM* [image: Print This News]<http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/printNepaliNews.php?id=252534> KATHMANDU: The streak of parliament's failures to elect a new Prime Minister continued, with neither of the candidates being able to clinch a clear majority in round four of the prime ministerial elections held at Constituent Assembly hall in New Baneshwor, Kathamandu Friday afternoon. In today’s elections, UCPN-Maoist’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal polled 213 votes, while his rival NC’s Ram Chandra Paudel only managed 122 in the capacity 601-seat parliament, way behind the halfway mark of 301 votes. Of total 468 attendances, 156 lawmakers voted against Dahal and another 156 opted to stay neutral. Likewise, 245 lawmakers disapproved Paudel’s candidacy, while 194 abstained from voting. In all, 561 lawmakers attended Paudel's round of voting. Dahal's third round figure of 259 slid down by 46 votes, while Paudel, went down his previous statistics of 124 by a marginal 2 counts. Today's low vote scoring can understandably be attributed to the decreased participation of lawmakers. The House has already faced debacles in three earlier episodes, after both the two candidates, initially three, have each time been struggling to overpass the vote deficit. Khanal had pulled out minutes before the voting began in the first round as he was apparently unlikely to generate a two-thirds majority, a condition set by his party's CC meet for any UML candidate to mark presence in the running. Speaking to journalists while exiting from the CA premises, NC's prime ministerial candidate Ram Chandra Paudel said the repeated failure of the House is against the interests of the country. He also called on leaders from CPN UML , Madhes Font and others, who have been maintaining neutral stance on the ongoing voting, to participate in the next round of poll, scheduled for August 18. Since then, CPN UML has been abstaining from voting, which could certainly have swung the balance to either of the parties’ favour. The party has avowedly been saying it is only interested in a consensus government. Today's poll was seen by many with special interest, relating it to a test of India's negotiation prowess as India's former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had held extensive talks with top brass leaders of all major parties to resolve the long standing standoff. With today’s poll turning into shambles, the country is pushed further into vacuum of leadership with the lack of an effective government in place. The existing regulations of the House require that voting be carried out ad infinitum unless one of the two contestants seals a clear majority or chooses to back out. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
