Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Pakistan is preparing to elect the 12th president in the history of the Republic, who will succeed the current head of state Asif Ali Zardari, whose mandate expires on 9 September at the end of the five year period covered by the Constitution. The coalition government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has indicated their candidate in Himari Hussain. Former cricketer Imran Khan's opposition movement Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), has instead chosen former judge Wajhiuddin Ahmad. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the party of outgoing President Zardari would not give any names, in protest against the "hasty" procedure in the selection of the next head of state.
The voting procedure will be carried out today by secret ballot and will be held simultaneously, in Parliament and the four provincial assemblies that comprise the Republic. The operation started at 10 this morning and will end no later than 3 pm. The constituency called to choose the head of state in Pakistan is formed by MPs - recently rennewed following the vote on 11 May, which marked the end of the domination of the popular Bhutto and Zardari - and members of the four local assemblies (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Bluchistan).
Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim,
head of the Electoral Commission, has called on all parliamentarians to ensure
the secrecy of the operations. Cell
phones or any other electronic item will therefore not be allowed during the
voting process.
However,
the choice of the next president is overshadowed by the boycott announced by
the former majority faction, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), to protest the
decision of the head of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to
anticipate the vote to July
30 from August 6, thus shortening the election campaign.
The
MPs of the PPP participated in the preparatory work and interventions in the
Assembly, but will not vote. In
response, the Minister for Information explains that they may raise objections
in the case of "postponement" of the vote, but not "if they are
anticipated." The
mandate of the outgoing Head of State expires on September 9, he should remain
in office until the day before for ordinary business, but it is not excluded
that he may voluntarily anticipate the date of his resignation.