Futile election
Parliament sat through another round of voting for the prime minister's post on Tuesday. This was the 13th round of PM elections and the lone candidate, NC's Ram Chandra Poudel, was again unable to obtain a simple majority in his favour. In the election, 144 votes were cast, with 98 lawmakers in favour of Poudel, two against him, and 44 staying neutral. The majority of CA members, belonging to UCPN (Maoist), CPN-UML and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, did not take part in the voting. Following the vote, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Legislature-Parliament decided to hold the 14th round of voting on 29 October. 

Deadline extended
The High-level Taskforce has extended its deadline by 11 days as it failed to complete its assigned tasks within the scheduled time. An all-party meeting on Sunday agreed to give the taskforce more time to resolve contentious issues among the political parties that have hindered the constitution-drafting process. Two hundred and twenty issues have been identified so far in 8 of the 11 thematic CA reports.

Foreign visit
President Ram Baran Yadav left for China to attend the closing ceremony of Shanghai Expo 2010 on Tuesday. He is leading a 17-member delegation that includes the tourism minister, foreign ministry officials and the president's advisors and aides. Yadav will also meet top Chinese leaders including Premier Wen Jiabao during the visit. Meanwhile, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who had gone to China last week to attend the same program, returned on Tuesday evening. He also met top Chinese officials and leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Dahal organised a press meet at the airport upon his arrival and said he asked the Chinese officials to hold talks with the Indian Government in the presence of Nepali representatives to form strategies on Nepal.

Going up...in corruption
Nepal has been ranked 146 in the Corruption Perception Index 2010 released on Tuesday by Transparency International. With an index score of 2.2 out of 10, Nepal falls in the group of 'highly corrupt' countries with Iran, Yemen, Libya, Cameroon, Haiti, Paraguay, and Ivory Coast. Results from 2009 and 2010 indicate that Nepal is Southasia's second most corrupt country. Afghanistan is the region's most corrupt, ranked at 176, whereas Pakistan is seen as less corrupt than Nepal, ranking 143.