LAHORE, Sept 14: President Pervez Musharraf will be deemed to have been elected unopposed for another term if the opposition parties did not put up any candidate against him, according to the federal minister for parliamentary affairs.

Dr Sher Afgan Niazi said on Friday that the Election Commission would not have to hold the poll if there was no other candidate.

Opposition parties do not plan to nominate a candidate, especially if the existing assemblies are asked to re-elect Gen Musharraf. They want the new assemblies to choose a new head of state.

Dr Niazi said the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) had ‘passed away’ after its poor show on Sept 10.

According to him, Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party had higher stakes in the provinces of the NWFP and Balochistan and, therefore, it would abstain from the electoral process, irrespective of the decision of other APDM parties.

The PPP, the minister claimed, would adopt the same course.

As a result, Gen Musharraf would have no challenger against him, and the Election Commission would declare him elected unopposed for a second term.

In case there was another candidate in the arena, the Election Commission would have to complete the electoral process.

He made it clear that in order to win the election Gen Musharraf was required to poll a majority of votes ‘cast’, not of the total membership of the assemblies.

The electoral college of the president comprises 342 members of the National Assembly, 100 members of the Senate and 65 votes each of the four provincial assemblies.

If all 702 members of the electoral college use their right to vote and the contest is between two candidates, the one bagging 352 votes would win. But supposing only 400 votes are cast, a candidate securing 201 votes would be the winner, explained Dr Niazi.