Consultations have started between the government and the opposition on the candidature of president as Federal Minister Khawaja Asif has contacted the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah in this regard.
Asif is a member of the PML-N committee which was formed to contact other political parties in order to obtain their support for its candidate in the presidential election to be held on August 6.
During his talk with PPP’s Khurshid Shah, Kh Asif put forward the names of Sartaj Aziz, a veteran Muslim Leaguer and current advisor to the premier on foreign affairs and national security, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and PML-N leader, and former Sindh governor Mamnoon Hussain as the party’s possible candidates for the post of president.
Talking to media representatives after meeting with Kh Asif, Shah said that he told the PML-N’s envoy that a fourth name that merited consideration for the position of president was that of Raza Rabbani, a PPP leader and a senator.
Shah said that he exhorted the PML-N’s representative to ensure support for Rabbani’s candidature, adding he had already requested the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) to extend their backing for the PPP leader’s nomination.
The PPP leader further said that the party would also request the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman to support Rabbani’s candidature.
According to the schedule released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, nomination papers will be submitted on July 24 and scrutinised on 26th. The papers can be withdrawn on July 29 when the final list of candidates will also be issued. The election will be held on August 6 and results will be announced on 7th.
Given the party position and affiliations in the four provincial assemblies, the National Assembly and the Senate, if all members vote in accordance with party lines, no candidate will have the potential to create a hurdle in the way of the PML-N’s nominee entering the presidency in September after the term of President Asif Ali Zardari will expire.
A projected outcome of the presidential poll in case of a 100 per cent turnout shows that the PML-N’s candidate should secure 388 votes. Statistics show that the opposition – comprising the PPP, the PTI and the MQM as main parties – cannot cross the 300 mark even if it succeeds in fielding a joint candidate.
The votes will be calculated according to a formula given in the second schedule of the constitution. This formula gives equal representation to the provincial assemblies.
The Presidential Election Rules of 1988, devised in the light of Article 41 of the constitution, provide for a 1,170-member electoral college of both houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies. But the total number of votes, according to the formula, is 702.
As 52 seats are vacant in the legislatures, the number of electoral votes this time will be 672. The winner must get a majority of the votes polled.