Pakistan set to get new president on July 30

Pakistan’s parliament will vote for a new president on July 30 instead of the earlier date of August 6, the Supreme Court decided on Wednesday. Imtiaz Ahmad reports.

Pakistan’s parliament will vote for a new president on July 30 instead of the earlier date of August 6, the Supreme Court decided on Wednesday.

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As candidates filed their nomination papers, Mamnoon Husain emerged as the favourite for the post. A businessman from Karachi, he is the candidate from Mian Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N party. The consensus candidate emerging for opposition parties is Senator Raza Rabbani, a respected senator aligned with President Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court, on the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan, decided that the presidential elections will be held earlier as some candidates had objected to the polls being held in the last days of Ramazan, the Muslim month of fasting.

The Supreme Court had asked the ECP to review July 30 as a day for presidential elections if there were no legal obstacles. The ECP said it would have no problem with a date.