Pakistani President Will Not Contest For Second Term

Islamabad, July 17, IRNA – Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, will not seek second term, Presidential Spokesman, senator Farhatullah Babar said on Tuesday. His term, who was elected President in September 2008, will complete in the second week of September this year. “President Asif Ali has decided not to contest election for the second time,” Babar told reporters in Islamabad. He said that the President will not resign before the elections and will come back by end of the current month. Local media reports that President Zardari wants to play active role in politics from the platform of his Pakistan People Party (PPP), which faced defeat in the May 11 elections. The PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim says that his party has not yet decided to take part in the elections. President Asif Ali Zardari’s tenure is expiring on September 9 and the presidential election schedule needs to be issued 30 days prior to it. The government and its allied parties and opposition parties have not yet announced their presidential candidates. Opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah hinted last week that efforts are being made to bring a joint presidential candidate from the opposition platform./end