Pakistan to elect its 13th president today

The presidential election will be held on Tuesday to elect 13th President of Pakistan for next five years. Arif Alvi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Aitzaz Ahsan of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML (N) backed Maulana Fazlur Rehman are vying for the seat.

Polling will begin at 10: am and continue till 4:00 pm.

Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza will serve as returning officer and high court chief justices as presiding officers.

Five presiding officers appointed by the ECP for conduct of presidential election include Islamabad High Court Chief Justice for Senate of Pakistan and National Assembly, Lahore High Court Chief Justice for Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, High Court of Sindh Chief Justice for Provincial Assembly of Sindh, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice for Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice for Provincial Assembly of Balochistan.

How is a president elected?

A president is elected in a special session of the parliament, senate and all four provincial assemblies in accordance with Article 41 (3) of the constitution. The 13th President of Pakistan will be chosen by an electoral college of 706 votes of lawmakers, including 104 senators, 342 members of the national and 260 of the provincial assembly on September 4.

In order to ensure equal representation, all provincial assemblies are given 65 votes each in the Electoral College.

Each member of the National Assembly gets one vote as do Senators. 5.70 Punjab parliamentarians makeup 1 vote, 2.58 in Sindh, 1.90 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while MPAs in Balochistan, the smallest assembly, get one vote each.

Who will win?

Arif Alvi is likely to poll a total of 337.91 votes (excluding the undecided independents in each house). Maulana Fazl-ur Rehman is expected to receive 199.1, while Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan could be picking up 115.44 votes.

Source: Daily Pakistan