KATHMANDU (BNO NEWS) -- Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai was elected Nepal's 35th prime minister on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of political instability, the Himalayan Times reported.

Baburam Bhattarai of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) was elected by a simple majority in the Legislature-Parliament on Sunday. He garnered 340 votes of the 575 present lawmakers while his opponent, Nepalese Congress Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Paudel, secured only 235 votes.

57-year-old Bhattarai, who is one of the vice chairmen of his party, in the 90s served as deputy prime minister and finance minister in the government led by then-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. He went underground after his party, the then-CPN Maoist, launched an armed rebellion in 1996. Bhattarai was involved in the peace talks with the government in 2003.

After Sunday's results were announced, Paudel congratulated Bhattarai on his election victory to become the country's 35th prime minister. Paudel said he hoped the new prime minister will be able to carry out the peace process in 1.5 month as promised by his party, according to the newspaper.

Sunday's voting took place after Nepalese politicians failed to form a unity government on Wednesday before the extended deadline granted by President Ram Baran Yadav expired. The president issued the deadline after Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal resigned on August 14 after six months and 11 days at the top post.

Khanal was elected in February after seven months of political stalemate. He quit after the government failed to conclude major tasks of the peace process and forge consensus.

The main challenges which Khanal faced during his tenure was the formation of a consensus government and the drafting of the constitution. A new constitution was a condition of a 2006 peace agreement which the Maoists signed with the government, ending a decade-long civil war.