The general elections of Pakistan would be held in the first
half of January in 2008, News Network International (NNI) news
agency quoted Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz as saying on
Wednesday.
Speaking at an Iftar dinner hosted by him in honor of the
journalistic community, Aziz said the National and Provincial
Assemblies would for the first time in Pakistan's history complete
their tenure on November 15.
After dissolution of the assemblies, caretaker governments would
be formed at federal and Provincial levels to hold free and fair
elections within sixty days, Aziz said.
Aziz expressed the confidence that the ruling Pakistan Muslim
League-Qaid (PML-Q) and its allied parties would win the elections
and form the next government.
Talking about the presidential elections, Aziz said that though
official results had not been declared, President Pervez Musharraf
had bagged more than 57 percent votes of the Electoral College as
per unofficial results.
He added that some parties did not participate in the exercise
while others abstained but the voting pattern suggested that
Musharraf would have been the clear winner even if the opposition
parties would have participated and voted against him.
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2007)
