Islamabad: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Asif Ali Zardari was elected as Pakistan's 14th President on Saturday, becoming the head of state for a second time. Zardari, the joint candidate of the coalition government led by PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), received 255 votes, against Imran Khan-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai's 119.
The 68-year-old Zardari was already tipped to win as his re-election as President was one of the conditions for the newly-formed coalition between PPP and PML-N. A businessman-turned-politician, Zardari is the husband of slain Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and served as President from 2008 to 2013.
In the Sindh Assembly, where Zardari's PPP is at the helm, he bagged the most votes while he also swept the Balochistan Assembly votes bagging all votes polled there.
He also defeated Achakzai in the Punjab assembly. In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, where SIC/PTI has the government, Achakzai got the most votes against Zardari.
Zardari, who served as the president from 2008 to 2013, is also the first civilian in Pakistan's history to have been elected as President twice. He will replace the incumbent Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he has continued since the new electoral college was not yet formed.
The new president was elected by the electoral college of the newly elected members of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, as per the provisions of the Constitution.
A businessman-turned-politician, Zardari is the husband of slain Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Zardari would replace the incumbent Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he has continued since the new electoral college was not yet formed.
Achakzai is the head of his Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and was contesting from the platform of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which came to prominence after independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) joined it.
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