Pachanda quits Nepal PM race,Maoists to support Communist candidate

Nepal8217;s parliament is set to vote for a new prime minister under revised election rules designed to break a deadlock that has left the country without a government since the June 30 resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal under intense Maoists pressure.

Under the new rules,no lawmaker will be allowed to abstain from voting in the House.

The UCPN-Maoist has 238 seats and the CPN-UML has 108 seats in the 601 member Constituent Assembly,which acts as the country8217;s interim Parliament.

The second largest Nepali Congress,which has put up R.C Poudyal as its candidate again,has 114 members in the House.

Bijaya Gachhadar,the president of Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum -Democratic,is also in the race.

President Ram Baran Yadav had last week directed Parliament to begin a fresh process for the election of Prime Minister on the basis of majority vote as political parties had failed to hammer out a deal to form a consensus government.

Poudyal had failed to garner a majority in 16th rounds of voting,forcing him to quit the race.

The political crisis has been hugely damaging for Nepal,which is still reeling from its decade of civil war that ended in 2006. The standoff has delayed the drafting of a new constitution and conclusion of the peace process.