The
president of Pakistan is indirectly elected by the
Electoral College of Pakistan – a joint sitting of the
Senate,
National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies. The votes of the members of the Senate and National Assembly are counted as single votes. Meanwhile, the votes given by the provincial assembly legislators are adjusted to give each province an equal share in the election. This is because each provincial assembly has a varying number of members, depending on population size. The largest province by population size,
Punjab, has a total of 371 members in its assembly, whereas the smallest province of
Balochistan has only 65 members in its legislature. Therefore, the provincial votes are weighted against the Balochistan assembly in the following manner: Regarding timing, the constitution states that election to the office of President must be held no earlier than sixty days and no later than thirty days before the expiration of the term of the incumbent president. If assemblies are not present, the constitution allows the election of the president to be delayed thirty days after the general election. The electoral process itself is done via a
secret ballot due to the post of the president being constitutionally non-partisan. Therefore, unlike during the election of the Prime Minister, cross-party voting is not liable to be considered defection. ==Electoral College==