The electoral college of Pakistan – comprising the Senate and the recently elected national and provincial legislatures – will elect the country’s 13th president on Tuesday.
Voting via a secret ballot commenced simultaneously in all assemblies and the Senate at 10am with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Arif Alvi, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Aitzaz Ahsan and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) Maulana Fazlur Rehman are in the running for the coveted position. Voting will conclude at 4pm.
Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly commenced the polling process at 10am. The polling station has been established inside the K-P Assembly hall and the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth is the presiding officer for the elections.
K-P Assembly has a total 124 members, presently, 112 members are part of the Electoral College and are expected to poll their votes in the election. A total of 12 seats are empty.
PTI and allies have 79 members in the house while the joint opposition including Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and (PML-N), MMA and the PPP have a total 33 votes.
As per the electoral college formula, Alvi is expected to get 42 votes, while, Fazlzur Rehman is expected to get 15 votes and PPP’s candidate Aitzaz is expected to receive 3 votes in the provincial assembly.
Heavy contingents of security forces have been deployed around the assembly to provide security during the polling process.
A divided opposition:
Opposition parties failed to reach a consensus earlier and pitch a joint candidate. The parties blamed each other for the division, which will benefit PTI’s Alvi.
Division in opposition ranks over fielding of a joint candidate started when the PPP unilaterally nominated Aitzaz and sought the support of other opposition groups. The PML-N, the second largest party in Parliament and largest among opposition groups, declined to support the PPP nominee.
Several direct and indirect contacts and a multiparty huddle failed to bridge the differences between the opposition groups.
Delayed election:
The incumbent President Mamnoon Hussain took oath on September 9, 2013, and his five-year term is set to expire on September 8. According to Clause 4 of Article 41 of the Constitution, which deals with matters related to presidential election, “Election to the office of president shall be held not earlier than 60 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of term of the president in office.”
This means the election for new president was due by August 8. However, the Constitution explains that in case the assemblies are not functioning, the presidential poll will be held within 30 days after the general election which was held this year on July 25.
Going by the constitutional provision, the presidential poll was due on August 23. However, this deadline also could be met, and now the delay would be condoned using article 254 of the constitution.
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