In Nepal, the parliament has again failed to elect a new Prime Minister today. Both the contesting candidates – Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda of the Unified CPN(Maoist) and Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress could not secure the simple majority required to get elected in the fourth round of polling held this afternoon.Announcing the election result, Speaker of the Parliament Subash Nemwang said the Maoist candidate Prachanda polled 213 out of a total of 468 votes cast, while his Nepali Congress rival Ram Chandra Poudel won 122 votes. Both the candidates could not get elected as they failed to obtain the simple majority. He said the 5th round of polling will be held on the 18th of this month.AIR Kathmandu Correspondent C.K. Dorjee reports that neither of the two candidates secured the required majority as CPN(UML) and four Tarai based parties along with smaller parties in the parliament abstained from voting process. Both the CPN(UML) and the Terai parties did not take part in the earlier three rounds of polling which led to the parliament's failure to elect a new Prime Minister.”The delay in electing a new Prime Minister is straining Nepal's peace process and writing of a new constitution, which has been stalled by the continuing political stalemate. Nearly half of political parties represented in the constituent assembly are now voicing serious concerns on the protracted delay in forming a new government and urged the Unified CPN(Maoist) and the Nepali Congress – the two parties in the electoral fray, to open the door for consensus to achieve the common objective of all parties to conclude the peace process and write the new constitution. It is to be seen what strategy the two major parties would adopt in the coming few days to form a new government, after four rounds of failed Prime Ministerial election.