ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Saturday filed nomination papers of its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for the presidential election on March 9, with former prime minister Imran Khan-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) party naming Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its candidate for the top post.

Zardari, who previously served as the president from 2008 till 2013, has the backing of a coalition of major political parties, including three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that is likely to form the government at center.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who was flanked by a large of lawmakers from the southern Sindh province, submitted Zardari’s nomination papers as a proposer, while Sindh Assembly lawmaker Nasir Shah acted as a seconder.

“Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah submitted the nomination papers to Sindh High Court Chief Justice Aqeel Abbasi,” a spokesperson for the Sindh CM’s office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Khan-backed SIC party named Achakzai, who heads the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), as its candidate for the presidency in Islamabad.

After being barred from contesting Feb. 8 national election for breaching electoral laws, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had fielded its members as independent candidates, who later joined the minority SIC party to claim reserved seats in assemblies.

“PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council has nominated Mahmood Khan Achakzai [as] presidential candidate,” Khan’s party said in a statement on Saturday.

In Pakistan, a president is elected by members of an electoral college, which comprises both upper and lower houses of parliament as well as provincial assemblies.

On Friday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced a schedule for the presidential election on March 9, months after the end of Arif Alvi’s term as the 13th president of Pakistan.

It said nominations for the post could be filed by Saturday and a returning officer, appointed by the ECP, will scrutinize the documents by March 4.

President Alvi’s five-year term ended in September last year, but in Pakistan, a president may continue to stay in office constitutionally until his successor is elected to the presidency.

The tenure of Alvi, who took oath on Sept. 9, 2018 after Khan’s PTI came to power in election held the same year, was marked by political instability and civil-military tensions, and saw the ouster of Khan in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, followed by the departure of PM Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government in August.

Besides political instability, an economic crisis gripped Pakistan during this period, with the South Asian country barely averting a default in June last year by securing a $3 billion bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).