Islamabad: Pakistan will hold presidential elections on September 4 to elect President Mamnoon Hussain's successor at the end of his five-year tenure, the election commission announced on Thursday.


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Pakistan's president is elected indirectly by the members of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies. "Presidential election will be held on September 4," the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said as it issued the schedule of the election.


The candidates can file nominations by August 27 and the final list of contesting candidates will be issued on August 30, it said. The polling will be held in the buildings of the federal parliament and provincial assemblies.


In Pakistan, the President is considered as a symbol of the federation and head of the state and exercises all powers on the recommendations of the prime minister.


Mamnoon Hussain, elected in September 2013, was a nominee of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by former jailed prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Hussain's parents migrated from Agra and settled in Karachi after partition.


A tough competition is expected between nominees of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Prime Minister-in-waiting and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and the joint opposition forged by the PML-N, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.