Nepal stalls on new PM vote

The news will come as a blow to the troubled Himalayan nation, still without a proper leader more than six weeks after former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was forced to resign after pressure from the opposition Maoist party.

Parliament secretariat official Lava Prasad Gautam said they are delaying the vote to mourn a Maoist lawmaker who died on Saturday.

In May Nepal's prime minister agreed to step down to pave the way for a new power-sharing government in a deal to secure the support of the opposition Maoist party for an extension of parliament's term.

Since then however, political leaders have been unable to reach an agreement on the shape of the new administration.

The Maoists occupy the largest number of seats in parliament, but not enough to govern alone.

Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal faces Ram Chandra Poudel, chairman of the centrist Nepali Congress, in the race to become the next prime minister.

But neither candidate has so far been able to secure the support of opposition parties that they need to establish the new government.

The resulting stalemate has delayed progress in the continuing peace process that started when the war ended in 2006. It has also stopped the passage of the annual budget, delaying much-needed government spending.