Kathmandu, July 17: The seven-party alliance that has been in place since past two years appears to be headed towards an abrupt demise as they failed to reach a consensus on the candidate for the post of the president or head of the state in the republic set up.

The Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-M) have fielded separate candidates—Ram Baran Yadav, Ramprit Paswan and Ramraja Prasad Singh respectively—for the post, for which election is scheduled, along with that of the vice president on July 19.

If the three parties fail to arrive at consensus by Friday, the prospects of the Nepali Congress and the UML joining the Government led by the CPN-M will be remote. “We had an open mind and wanted to support any candidate from the Congress or the UML, other than its two top leaders—G P Koirala or Madhav Nepal— but they were not willing to field any other person”, said Anant, deputy commander of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and a Maoist member of the Constituent Assembly.

At one point, Maoists and the UML had almost agreed to share the two posts—Prime Minister to the Maoist and President to the UML. But this did not work out because the UML insisted on Madhav Nepal being the candidate. “It would have been morally and politically wrong for us to support Nepal who lost election to the Constituent Assembly from both the constituencies he contested from”, Ram Bahadur Thapa alias Badal, one of the most influential leaders in the Maoist party told The Indian Express.

In a house of 601 with seven seats lying vacant, the presidential election may turn into a keenly contested one, with the winner needing more than fifty per cent of the total seats. The Maoists with an effective strength of 226 will need at least 75 seats from outside to win the post.

In a day of hectic political developments, the UML which was ditched by the Maoists at the last moment aborting a possible left alliance was making frantic efforts to woo the Congress. The formula being worked out till the last moment was that the two parties would share the post of president and the vice-president. The Maoists however, said that their politics henceforth will be to promote the ‘Madhesh-janajatis (ethnic groups) alliance’. “That is what we did as they are the most neglected populace as well as the regions”, Anant said.

G P Koirala who had announced his resignation on June 26 continues as Prime Minister as only a president can accept his resignation. But if the Maoist candidate loses the presidential poll, “we may have to reconsider our claim to form the government although we are the single largest party”, he added.