Nepal's Parliament will hold the 8th round of voting this afternoon to elect a new Prime Minister after seven earlier attempts have failed since the process of election began on July 21. Of the two candidates in the electoral fray, the Unified CPN(Maoist) has decided to withdraw its candidate Prachanda from the electoral race following an agreement with the CPN(UML), leaving only Nepali Congress candidate Ram Chandra Poudel as the lone contestant. The Maoists have however not formally notified the parliament on withdrawal of its candidate. Under Nepal's unique election system, the voting process will continue as long as there is a contender. AIR Kathmandu Correspondent reports that today's polling is unlikely to succeed in electing a new Prime Minister as it will not be possible for the Nepali Congress candidate to muster the required simple majority of 300 votes with the Maoists, the CPN-UML and the three Tarai based parties having announced their decision to abstain from the voting process.