18 August 2018•Update: 19 August 2018
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has nominated senior parliamentarian Dr. Arif Alvi as its presidential candidate, the party’s spokesman said.
Ali, a dentist by profession, has been elected as a member of the National Assembly for the second consecutive term from the country’s commercial capital Karachi in July 25 elections.
“The PTI has nominated Dr. Arif Alvi as its candidate for President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” Fawad Chaudhry, the PTI’s spokesman, said in a tweet.
Alvi, who had started his political career from Jamat-e-Islami, one of the country’s mainstream religious party, is a founding member of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI. He has also served as the party’s secretary general from 2006 to 2013.
His nomination was confirmed by the party hours after cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan was sworn in as the country’s 22nd premier on Monday.
Election for the new president is scheduled to be held on Sept. 4, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced earlier this week.
Nominations for president -- the ceremonial head of state -- can be filed through Aug. 27, while the final list of candidates will be published on Aug. 30.
Voting will be held in the National Assembly building in the capital Islamabad and all four provincial assemblies buildings on Sept. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time (0500-1100GMT).
The president is elected through a secret ballot by an electoral college made up of members of Pakistan’s Senate, National Assembly, and all four provincial assemblies.
The five-year term of President Mamnoon Hussain, 78, is set to end on Sept. 9. Hussain was nominated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), former three-time Premier Nawaz Sharif's party, in 2013.
