Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Arif Alvi has been elected as the 13th President of Pakistan, according to the unofficial and unconfirmed results.

Arif Alvi was up against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Aitzaz Ahsan and joint-opposition’s nominee Fazlur Rehman in the presidential run.

The National Assembly, Senate, and all four provincial assemblies voted in the presidential elections.

The process of voting continued till 4pm in the evening, while a total of 1,021 individuals were registered to vote.

According to the unofficial results, Alvi bagged 320 electoral votes while Fazlur Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan managed to receive 159 and 120 votes respectively.

National Assembly and Senate:

Candidate                          Votes       

Arif Alvi                                   211

Fazlur Rehman                      131

Aitzaz Ahsan                           81

Six votes were rejected.

Punjab Assembly:

Candidate                         Votes                 

Arif Alvi                                  186

Fazlur Rehman                     141

Aitzaz Ahsan                           6

18 votes were rejected.

Sindh Assembly:

Candidate                          Votes

Aitzaz Ahsan                            100

Arif Alvi                                     56

Fazlur Rehman                          1

One vote was rejected.

Balochistan Assembly:

Candidate                          Votes

Arif Alvi                                     45

Fazlur Rehman                         15

Aitzaz Ahsan                              0

MPA Nawab Sanaullah Zehri did not attend the session.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly:

Candidate                            Votes

Arif Alvi                                       78

Fazlur Rehman                          26

Aitzaz Ahsan                               5

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will officially announce the results of the presidential election on Wednesday.

PTI nominated Arif Alvi, who triumphed in general elections 2018 from NA-247, while PPP nominated Aitzaz Ahsan despite reservations of the opposition alliance – especially Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – which then chose to put forward the name of Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman.

Media reports suggested that a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) delegation visited Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the candidate of all remaining opposition parties, and urged him to consider withdrawing his name.

The maulana apparently agreed on the condition that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership supported the move.

Candidates profiles:

PTI’s Arif Alvi has a graduate degree in dentistry from the De’Montmorency College of Dentistry in Lahore. He started his political career during student years when he was a member of Jamaat Islami’s student wing Islami Jamiat Talaba. He remained with the JI before joining the PTI when it was launched in 1996-97.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman followed in his father Mufti Mahmood’s footsteps and got inducted into the party of Deobani religious scholars Jamiat Ulema Islam. He became the secretary general of the party following his father’s death. In the 1980s, a leadership row led to a split in the party and Rahman formed his own faction JUI-F. He has won several elections from his home seat in Dera Ismail Khan, facing his first defeat to a PTI candidate this July.

Aitzaz Ahsan has a law degree from the Downing College in Cambridge. In 1967, he was called to the bar at the Gray’s Inn. He has been a lifelong member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The polling for the 13^th presidential election of Pakistan has ended at the National and provincial assemblies. The counting process is underway.

Polling for the presidential election commenced at 10am. Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court presided over the election in the Parliament. Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Raza is the returning officer for the presidential election.