Pakistan National Assembly stands dissolved

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's National Assembly stands dissolved on completion of five-year constitutional term, an official announcement said Saturday night.

The federal cabinet is also dissolved, another notification said.

"In pursuance of Article 52 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the National Assembly stands dissolved on the expiration of its term of five years on the 16th day of March, 2013," a notification issued by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said.

The Prime Minister will remain in power for few more days as the government and the main opposition party have failed so far to reach the agreement on a consensus caretaker Prime Minister.

According to the Constitution, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and the Prime Minister have to agree on one candidate for the position of caretaker Prime Minister within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, otherwise the proposed names would be forwarded to a parliamentary committee for selection.

The parliamentary committee will comprise four representatives each from the opposition and the government. But if the issue still remains unsettled the Chief Election Commissioner would have to look into the matter and to decide the caretaker Prime Minister' s name from the names of two nominations each by the opposition and the government.

The government has nominated four members for the parliamentary committee which includes two leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party and two from its allies.

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) has not yet announced names of its representatives for the committee.

The Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told the nation in a televised address late Saturday that he is making efforts to reach an understanding with the opposition on the caretaker set-up. However, the deadlock continued as the government and the opposition rejected each other's nominees.

The caretaker Prime Minister will be mainly responsible for supervising the elections scheduled to be held in May.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and chief ministers of four provinces agreed on Saturday to hold elections of the national and provincial assemblies on the same day.