KATHMANDU: Nepal`s parliament was due to hold its fifth vote Monday to try to elect a new prime minister for the troubled nation amid little hope of an end to the long leadership vacuum.

Nepal has been without a government since June, when former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal stood down under pressure from the opposition Maoist party to pave the way for a new power-sharing government.

Since then, political leaders have been unable to agree on the shape of the new administration and four earlier votes to try to select a new prime minister have failed.

The Maoists, who fought a decade-long civil war against the state before transforming themselves into a political party ahead of 2008 elections, hold the largest number of seats in parliament, but not enough to govern alone.

Party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal is standing against Ram Chandra Poudel, chairman of the second-largest party in parliament, the centrist Nepali Congress, to be the next prime minister.

But neither candidate has been able to secure the backing of rival parties that they would need to form a new coalition government.

The resulting stalemate has hampered progress in the long-running peace process that began when the war ended in 2006 and prevented the passage of the annual budget, delaying much-needed government spending.

On Sunday, the speaker of the house Subash Nemwang called a meeting of party leaders to discuss the impasse.

"The finance ministry informs me that the country will be in serious financial difficulty if the budget for the current fiscal year is not passed soon," he told reporters after the meeting.

"(Party leaders) have assured me they will take action to address the problem."

BDST: 1324 HRS, August 23, 2010