Islamabad: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is confident that its candidate Dr Arif Alvi will win the presidential election comfortably. Polling for the presidential election will be held on September 4.
“Dr Arif Alvi will become the president of Pakistan as PTI has the support of the required number of voters,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in a media briefing. He made the announcement after a meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss feedback from MPAs from the four provinces on PTI’s presidential candidate.
Information Minister Chaudhry said the PTI had the support of its allied parties including Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Balochistan Awami Party and Grand Democratic Alliance. “The name of Dr Arif Alvi is final and there is no objection from any side over his nomination,” he said.
PTI senior leader and nominee for president’s post, Dr Arif Alvi also expressed his confidence in the vision of the Prime Minister Imran Khan to make a ‘New Pakistan’. In a separate interview, Arif Alvi expressed the hope that the presidential election would be held in a free, fair and transparent manner.
There are several factors that boost chances for PTI’s nominee but the biggest comes from the disagreement among the opposition parties. The opposition political parties remained divided over fielding a joint candidate for the forthcoming presidential election. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which nominated Aitzaz Ahsan as its presidential candidate, is sticking to its choice but political sources say that the grand opposition alliance rejected PPP’s nominee Aitzaz Ahsan but agreed to support another person from the party.
Pakistan’s presidential election will be held on September 4, five days before the expiry of the five-year term of President Mamnoon Hussain, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Candidates have been asked to submit their nomination papers for the presidential election by August 27. The president is selected by an electoral college including members of the Senate, National Assembly, and the four provincial assemblies. The voting is held through a secret ballot.
Who is Arif Alvi?
Arif Alvi, a dentist by profession, is among the founding members of the PTI. He had contested for Sindh Assembly seats in the general elections of 1997 and 2002, but failed in securing seats.
He was appointed the secretary general of PTI in 2006 and won from NA-250 constituency of Karachi in the 2013 elections. He served as the secretary general of PTI from 2006 to 2013. He was appointed the president of PTI’s Sindh chapter in 2016. In the July 2018 general elections, he was elected to the National Assembly from Karachi’s NA-247 constituency.
