Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Raja Riaz have agreed to name Senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar as caretaker premier to oversee elections, the prime minister’s office said.

“The prime minister (Sharif) and leader of opposition have jointly signed the advice which will be sent to the president for approval,” the statement on Saturday said.

Pakistan’s Geo News said President Arif Alvi approved Kakar’s appointment.

A lesser known politician from the southwestern province of Balochistan, Kakar will name a cabinet and head a government to steer the nuclear-armed nation through an economic and political crisis until a new government is elected.

“We first agreed that whoever should be prime minister, he should be from a smaller province so smaller provinces’ grievances should be addressed,” said Raja Riaz after meeting with outgoing premier Shehbaz Sharif.

Under Pakistan’s constitution, a neutral caretaker government oversees national elections, which must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the parliament’s lower house – which in this instance means early November.

The choice of caretaker prime minister has assumed heightened importance this time because the candidate will have extra powers to make policy decisions on economic matters, and amid fears the elections may be delayed by as much as six months.

The Election Commission has to draw new boundaries for hundreds of federal and provincial constituencies and, based on that, it will give an election date.

Source: TRTworld.com