ISLAMABAD, March 11: The first session of the Senate after completion of the election of its 50 new members will be held here on Sunday to elect chairman and deputy chairman for the next three-year term.

Before election of the chairman and deputy chairman, the newly-elected members of the upper house will take oath as senators for six years.

The ruling coalition has nominated incumbent Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro as its candidate for the office. He will face Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, the joint candidate of the opposition.

Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali of the Pakistan Muslim League will contest for the deputy chairman’s office, for which the opposition has nominated Prof Sajid Mir of the PML (Nawaz) as its candidate.

According to People’s Party Parliamentarians Senator Enver Baig, the opposition parties finalised the names of the candidates in a meeting held at the residence of PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbani, which continued for more than four hours.

Earlier, the leadership of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy held talks to finalise the strategy for the election. The meeting held at the Parliament House was attended by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Dr Safdar Abbasi and Raza Rabbani of the PPP; Sadia Abbasi of the PML-N; Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Liaquat Baloch of the MMA and Raza Mohammad Raza of the PMAP.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Rabbani said the opposition had decided to field joint candidates as it did not want to leave the field open for the government.

APP adds: Any member of the Senate may, before noon on Sunday, propose another member for election as chairman or deputy chairman by delivering to the secretary of the Senate a nomination paper signed by him and accompanied by a statement by the candidate that he is willing to serve as chairman or deputy chairman, if elected, says a press release.

A member can withdraw his candidature before the senators proceed to elect the chairman or his deputy.