India's Finance Minister Resigns to Run for President

 India's finance minister has stepped down to run for president.

Pranab Mukherjee submitted his formal resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.  He will be the ruling, Congress Party-led, coalition¹'s candidate in the July 19 presidential election.

In India, the president's position is largely ceremonial and is currently held by Pratibha Patil, whose five-year term is ending.  The president is tasked with deciding which party will lead in forming a new government if a parliament is elected with no party winning a clear majority.

Mukherjee's resignation as finance minister comes as India's economy struggles with high inflation and lagging growth.  In the January-March period, India's economy grew by just 5.3 percent - the slowest rate in nine years.

Prime Minister Singh has not named Mukherjee's successor.

Mukherjee's popularity cut across party lines and he was known for unifying² a sometime fractious coalition.  He has served in parliament for over four decades.  Mukherjee told reporters Tuesday, "I know that not every decision that I have taken might have been right but I have taken these decisions keeping in view the interests of the people whose faces appear before me more than often."

The president is chosen by an electoral college made up of lawmakers from both houses of parliament and state legislatures.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。