The general elections of Pakistan would be held in the first half of January in 2008, News Network International (NNI) news agency quoted Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz as saying on Wednesday.

Speaking at an Iftar dinner hosted by him in honor of the journalistic community, Aziz said the National and Provincial Assemblies would for the first time in Pakistan's history complete their tenure on November 15.

After dissolution of the assemblies, caretaker governments would be formed at federal and Provincial levels to hold free and fair elections within sixty days, Aziz said.

Aziz expressed the confidence that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid (PML-Q) and its allied parties would win the elections and form the next government.

Talking about the presidential elections, Aziz said that though official results had not been declared, President Pervez Musharraf had bagged more than 57 percent votes of the Electoral College as per unofficial results.

He added that some parties did not participate in the exercise while others abstained but the voting pattern suggested that Musharraf would have been the clear winner even if the opposition parties would have participated and voted against him.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2007)