Pakistan’s top election body to release schedule for Presidential election on March 1

Pakistan's election commission is likely to release on March 1 the schedule for the presidential polls, which is almost certain to be won by Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

"The formation of the Electoral College, a crucial component for the presidential election, is set to conclude on February 29. (After which), the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will release the official schedule and public notice for the election of the president on March 1," The Express Tribune newspaper said.

Quoting the ECP spokesperson, Samaa TV said, "All the four assemblies will come into being by February 29 and then the electoral college — required for the election of the President — will be completed." After a substantial delay, a six-party alliance is set to form a coalition government at the Centre under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif.

It has already announced Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari, 68, as its consensus candidate for the country's top constitutional office.

Zardari has previously served as the president from September 2008 to 2013.

With neither the PML-N nor PPP securing a clear majority in the February 8 polls, they decided to form the coalition with a deal that PPP's Zardari would get the President's post while PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz would get the post of chief minister of the Punjab province.

"Starting today, all potential candidates can obtain their nomination papers from the Election Commission Secretariat here and the Provincial Election Commissioners," the Express Tribune report said.

As per Article 41, the election of the president must be conducted within 30 days following the conclusion of general elections, voting for which was held on February 8.

Another report earlier in the newspaper Dawn had said, the ECP was set to hold the election for the office of the country's president by March 9 or 10, two days before the retirement of half of the senators after completing their six-year term.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)