By Xinhua,
Islamabad : Pakistan’s Election Commission Saturday issued a final list of candidates that includes three contenders for the country’s presidency.
The three candidates are: Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate.
Zardari has been fielded by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and its allies, Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui by the Pakistan Muslim League-N party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Mushahid by former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Q.
Faryal Talpur, sister of Zardari, as a covering candidate, withdrew her papers Saturday. Roedad Khan, a former bureaucrat, as a covering candidate for Siddiqui also withdrew his papers.
Polling will be held on Sept. 6 in the Senate and the National Assembly (lower house) in Islamabad and four provincial assemblies.
There are a total of 1,170 senators, members of the national assembly and four provincial assemblies, who will cast vote in the presidential elections.
Pakistan held its last presidential election on Oct. 9, 2007 and Pervez Musharraf, was re-elected. The new presidential election was announced following Musharraf’s resignation on Aug. 18.