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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Vote setback for Nepalese Maoists | Vote setback for Nepalese Maoists |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Former Maoist rebels in Nepal have failed to have the candidate they were supporting elected as first president of the new republic, state TV says. | Former Maoist rebels in Nepal have failed to have the candidate they were supporting elected as first president of the new republic, state TV says. |
| Ramraja Prasad Singh lost a run-off in the constituent assembly to Nepali Congress party candidate Ram Baran Yadav by 282 votes to 308, reports say. | Ramraja Prasad Singh lost a run-off in the constituent assembly to Nepali Congress party candidate Ram Baran Yadav by 282 votes to 308, reports say. |
| The monarchy was abolished in May after elections won by the former rebels. | The monarchy was abolished in May after elections won by the former rebels. |
| Nepal's president will be a largely ceremonial figure but plays a crucial role in forming the government. | Nepal's president will be a largely ceremonial figure but plays a crucial role in forming the government. |
| The president must swear in a new prime minister - and correspondents say Mr Yadav's election could jeopardise efforts by the Maoists to form an administration. | The president must swear in a new prime minister - and correspondents say Mr Yadav's election could jeopardise efforts by the Maoists to form an administration. |
| The former rebels emerged as the biggest party after April's elections, with one third of the seats. | |
| Constituent assembly officials are due to make a formal announcement on the voting shortly. | |
| 'Unholy alliance' | |
| Monday's run-off came after neither candidate secured the necessary 298 votes in a secret ballot on Saturday. | |
| Mr Prasad is not a Maoist and was a compromise candidate | |
| Mr Yadav won 283 votes to Mr Singh's 270, a statement from the assembly said. A third candidate won none. | |
| The assembly did succeed in electing a vice-president, Paramanand Jha, who was proposed by a southern party, the Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF). | |
| Mr Yadav was backed by his party, as well as the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) and the MPRF - the country's second, third and fourth largest parties. | |
| Maoist leaders called the grouping "an unholy alliance". | |
| They had appeared to have secured the MPRF's support along with other parties from the south until the MPRF switched sides at the 11th hour. | |
| Mr Prasad, a veteran republican who was arrested for bomb attacks on parliament and the royal palace in the mid-1980s, was a compromise candidate and is not a Maoist party member. | |
| Both he and Mr Yadav are ethnic Madhesis from the troubled Terai region of southern Nepal. | |
| There has been political deadlock in Nepal for weeks. | |
| The Maoists have threatened to refuse to form a government if their choice for the presidency did not succeed. | |
| They say they fear not being able to implement key electoral pledges such as land reform. |