(Recasts with election result)

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, July 19 (Reuters) - The new republic of Nepal failed to elect its first president on Saturday when none of the three candidates was able to muster the majority needed to open the way to the formation of a new government.

Nepal has been in political limbo since April, when former Maoist rebels won an historic election which left them short of a parliamentary majority, but enabled them to form a special assembly that abolished the 239-year-old monarchy.

The election of a president, a ceremonial post, is a key step towards installing a government that is likely to be led by the Maoists with support from other political parties.

But in Saturday's vote, none of the candidates fielded by the three major parties won the 298 votes needed, signalling the continuation of the political deadlock.

"No one has won a majority for president," said Manohar Bhattarai, secretary general of the assembly. "There will be a re-election on Monday."

Differences over the choice of president had strained ties between the Maoists and other political parties that came together after forging a peace pact in 2006 that included abolishing the monarchy and creating a republic.

The Maoists had backed a 73-year-old republican, Ramraja Prasad Singh, who masterminded a series of bomb blasts, including attacks on parliament and the royal palace in 1985.

Lawmakers did however elect Paramananda Jha as vice-president, officials said. Jha is a member of the Madheshi People's Rights Forum, the fourth biggest group in the special assembly which will write a new constitution for Nepal.

Under the 2006 peace deal, the two sides ended the decade-long civil war and the Maoist rebels agreed to take part in electoral politics.

The Maoists say they are in talks with other political parties to form a government. But other parties have so far rejected their overtures, saying the former rebels still practise violence and intimidation. (Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Tim Pearce) (For latest Reuters news on Nepal see: http://in.reuters.com, for blogs see http://blogs.reuters.com/in)

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