ISLAMABAD, July 20: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz short-listed on Saturday three candidates — former Sindh governor Mamnoon Hussain, former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and veteran party leader Sartaj Aziz — for the coming presidential polls.

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif told Dawn that he had proposed the three names to the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, and asked him to agree on any one of them.

Mr Shah, a PPP leader, said he had received a message from Mr Asif that the government wanted to see the next president elected unanimously. Mr Shah said he had officially communicated to the government that the PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, was the party’s candidate for the Aug 6 elections.

“I have told him that a fourth name also deserves consideration for the office of the president. Raza Rabbani is our candidate and we should select the best among the four candidates,” he said.

Mr Shah said the PPP would soon contact other parties to seek their support for Mr Rabbani.

He said Mr Asif had also sought the opposition’s support on the government’s demand for a change in the date for the presidential elections due to Ramazan, but he had categorically told the minister that the PPP would not support the move.

He said the government should not make the issue controversial. “I have advised the government not to pursue it and let the elections be held on schedule,” he said.

According to sources in the PML-N, Mamnoon Hussain appears to be forerunner among the party’s candidates as he belongs to Sindh and is considered to be a diehard member of the party. After expiry of the five-year term of President Asif Ali Zardari on Sept 8, there will be no representation of Sindh in the top constitutional offices of the country. Therefore, the sources said, the party’s leaders had the desire to bring someone from Sindh to the Presidency.

They said the name of Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui had been proposed to avoid possible criticism from some political or media circles as he was the party’s candidate against President Zardari when it had no chance to win the polls in September 2008.

However, senior members had suggested to the prime minister that the future president must be a committed party loyalist, the sources said.

Sartaj Aziz, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, is also considered to be a PML-N, but he could only get a chance of becoming the president if the party did not take the provinces’ representation into consideration, they said. Presently, the National Assembly speaker belongs to Punjab, the deputy speaker to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Senate chairman to Islamabad and his deputy to Balochistan.

Prime Minister Sharif, who belongs to Lahore, is already facing criticism for giving a majority of important positions in the federal cabinet to persons belonging to Punjab.

While the government and PPP were preparing to contact other parties to seek support for their candidates, two other opposition parties — the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Q — also nominated their own candidates.

A PTI spokesman told Dawn that the party had nominated Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed as its candidate for the top constitutional office. He, however, refused to comment when asked if the party was ready to withdraw its candidate for the sake of the opposition’s unity.

The PML-Q chief, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, has reportedly nominated Senator Saeedul Hassan Mandokhel from Balochistan.

According to the schedule released by the Election Commission, the nomination papers will be submitted on July 24 and scrutinised on July 26. The papers can be withdrawn on July 29 when the final list of candidates will be issued.

Given the party position and affiliations in the four provincial assemblies, the National Assembly and the Senate, a PML-N nominee is likely to win the election.