Nepal's national assembly fails to elect first President

NEPAL: Nepal's national assembly failed to elect the new republic's first president when none of the three candidates were able to secure half the total votes necessary to win, an official said.

A winning candidate had to garner 50 percent of the votes in the 594-members Constituent Assembly to be elected in the Saturday vote. Constituent Assembly chairman Kul Bahadur Gurung said another election will be held Monday. That contest will be between the two top candidates.

Ram Baran Yadav of the Nepali Congress party came closest with 283 votes, followed by Ramraja Singh who collected 270 votes. The third candidate, Ram Prit Paswan, got no votes.

The small Madhesi People's Rights Forum managed to get their candidate, Parmanandra Jha, elected as vice president. Jha got 305 votes, Gurung said.

Katmandu, Sunday, AP