Pakistan’s presidential election on March 9

Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced that the election for the office of the South Asian country’s president will be held on March 9. The polling for the presidential election will be held on March 9 from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. local time. The voting will be held in the Parliament House and the four provincial assemblies of Pakistan, it said in a notification, Xinhua news agency reported. According to the schedule, contesting candidates are required to submit their nomination papers on March 2, marking the commencement of the electoral process for the presidential election. Following the submission phase, the scrutiny of nomination papers is scheduled to take place on March 4, and the final list of candidates will be displayed on March 5, according to the ECP notification.

The notification issued by the ECP reads, “In pursuance of the provisions contained in paragraphs 1 and 3 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 read with clauses (3) and (4) of Article 41 of the Constitution, Public Notification for election to the office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is hereby issued and in relation thereto the following programme for receipt of nomination papers, scrutiny of nomination papers, withdrawal of candidature, publication of list of validly nominated candidates, retirement and the polling day,” Geo news reported. The Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan will assume the role of the Returning Officer for the presidential election, supervising the entire voting process. An alliance of major political parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has nominated Asif Ali Zardari as its candidate for the presidency. Zardari served as the president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.