Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and outgoing Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Raja Riaz are expected to finalise a name for the post of caretaker premier today (Saturday) as the deadline for deliberations over the matter looms.
On Friday, President Arif Alvi wrote to PM Shehbaz and Raja Riaz to propose a candidate for a caretaker prime minister by today. The Constitution mandates that the interim premier candidate be named within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly. The NA was dissolved on August 9.
The law states that if the outgoing PM and the leader of the opposition cannot agree on who to appoint as the caretaker premier, they each forward two candidates to a committee. If the committee fails to make any decision, then the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will have two days to choose the caretaker prime minister from the list of names shared with the commission.
Talking to reporters in Islamabad yesterday, PM Shehbaz had expressed confidence that the name of the head of the interim set-up would be finalised by Saturday.
