Zeeness Bureau
Islamabad: General Elections in Pakistan will be held on May 11, country’s Election Commission announced Wednesday.
The 11 May date for nationwide parliamentary elections was approved by President Asif Ali Zardari, said presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar,
The polls are significant as they mark the first time that one civilian government has handed over power to another.
Pakistan recently hogged headlines by creating history as for the first time ever after independence, the country witnessed a democratically elected government that completed its first five year term without getting dissolved.
Pakistan's military has ruled for approximately half the period since the country’s independence in 1947, staging coups three times.
Pakistan’s Parliament was dissolved on the midnight of March 16, as the government’s mandate expired.
A caretaker government would be set up soon to steer the country till election.
A Parliamentary committee has been given the job of deciding who would head the caretaker government till Friday as politicians failed to reach agreement on the same in time.
First Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 15:46