Pakistan's opposition parties to nominate joint presidential candidate

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-25 23:21:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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ISLAMABAD, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Opposition parties in Pakistan agreed on Saturday to nominate a joint candidate in the upcoming presidential elections to be held on Sept. 4, an opposition leader said.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has already nominated a senior party leader Arif Alvi as its presidential candidate.

The presidential election will be held to replace incumbent President Mamnoon Hussain, who will complete his five-year tenure next month.

The opposition parties met at the scenic Murree city near capital Islamabad and agreed to propose a consensus candidate, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ahsan Iqbal said.

Iqbal told reporters after the meeting that PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif will make a formal announcement about the leader on Sunday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also presided over a meeting of senior PTI leaders at his residence in Islamabad to chalk out strategy for the presidential elections, a PTI party statement said.

PTI formed the government with the help of some other coalition partners and has already won the election for the office of the speaker and deputy speaker.

The opposition parties will give a tough time to the ruling coalition in presidential elections if they agreed on a consensus candidate.

The national assembly, senate and four provincial assemblies are electoral college for the presidential elections.

The session of both houses of the parliament has been summoned to meet on Sept. 4 for the election of the president.

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