In Pakistan Senate, National Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies elect the President.
Presidential elections were held in Pakistan on 4 September 2018.[2]
Incumbent President Mamnoon Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) party was eligible for re-election to a second 5-year term, but declined. His current term ended on 9 September 2018. General elections were held in Pakistan on 25 July 2018 to elect members of the National Assembly.[3][4] The newly elected assemblies elected a new President.
On 4 September 2018, Arif Alvi was elected as 13th President of Pakistan.[5]
Schedule
The Election Commission of Pakistan announced the initial election schedule on 16 August 2018. Polling was conducted on following five places on 4 September 2018:
Parliament House at Islamabad
Punjab Provincial Assembly at Lahore
Sindh Provincial Assembly at Karachi
KPK Provincial Assembly at Peshawar
Baluchistan Provincial Assembly at Quetta
Members of Senate and National Assembly cast their vote at Parliament House whereas members of Provincial Assemblies cast their vote at respective assemblies.
Electoral system
The President of Pakistan is indirectly elected by the Electoral College of Pakistan – a joint sitting of the Senate, National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies.
The votes of the members of the Senate and National Assembly are counted as single votes. Meanwhile, the votes given by the provincial assembly legislators are adjusted so as to give each province an equal share in the election. This is so because, each provincial assembly has a varying number of members, depending upon population size. The largest province by population size, Punjab, has a total of 371 members in its assembly, whereas the smallest province of Balochistan has a mere 65 members in its legislature. Therefore the provincial votes are weighted against the Balochistan assembly in the following manner