Nepal fails in 13th bid to elect new PM

---

KATHMANDU, Oct 26 (AFP): Nepal's parliament failed Tuesday in its 13th bid to elect a new prime minister, meaning the impoverished Himalayan nation has been without a functioning government for almost four months.
Nepal has been stuck in a series of futile elections, with no candidate able to secure the necessary absolute majority, since caretaker prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned from his post on June 30.
He stepped down under intense pressure from the opposition Maoist party, who have been calling for a consensus government.
The Maoists, who fought a decade-long civil war against the state before transforming themselves into a political party and winning 2008 elections, hold the largest number of seats in parliament but not enough to govern alone.
At Tuesday's vote Ram Chandra Poudel, the sole candidate and leader of the Nepali Congress, the second largest party, secured 98 votes, the speaker of the house announced.
The total was far short of the absolute majority in the 601-member Constituent Assembly needed to form a government. Most parliamentarians abstained from the vote.