The leader of Nepal's former communist rebels will face off against an ex-premier to become prime minister on Friday, officials said, in an election that could help end the country's political deadlock.
Constituent Assembly spokesman Mukund Sharma said Prachanda, leader of the former Maoist guerrillas, and Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress party filed nomination papers Thursday to contest the election.
Members of the assembly cast their votes to choose the new premier on Friday.
Deuba is a veteran politician who has been prime minister three times while Prachanda, who uses only one name, led the 10-year Maoist insurgency that left more than 13,000 people dead.
The Maoists won the largest number of seats in parliamentary elections in April. A month later, the assembly abolished the Himalayan nation's centuries-old monarchy.
However, the former rebels fell short of a majority and Nepal's main political parties have been unable to agree on how to form a coalition government.
The Maoists abandoned their armed struggle in April 2006 to join a peace process that has brought them into the political mainstream.
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