PPP's Asif Ali Zardari wins presidential elections, to assume office for second time

Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has been elected as the country’s president for the second after he secured an overwhelming majority on Saturday, beating the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai.

Zardari, the widower of Pakistan’s slain first female premier Benazir Bhutto, will become the 14th president of the nation. According to Geo TV, Zardari won 411 votes while his opponent Achakzai bagged 181 votes.

The new president would replace the incumbent Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he had continued since the new electoral college was not yet formed.

Zardari was fielded by the ruling coalition government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, however, Achakzai secured 40.8 per cent votes while the new president Zardari won 7.62 per cent votes.

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After the results of the presidential elections were announced, workers of the PPP were seen celebrating in the Parliament.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Zardari for winning the presidential elections. He said, “Zardari’s election as president is the continuity of democratic values,” expressing hope that the new president will represent the strength of the Centre.

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Who is Asif Ali Zardari?

Zardari’s past is stained by a bevy of corruption and other allegations, including absurd kidnapping plots and kickbacks lavished on hoards of jewelry.

Despite a reputation as “Mr. Ten Percent” – the alleged cut he took for rubber-stamping contracts – a sympathy vote propelled him to office when his wife was assassinated in a 2007 bomb and gun attack.

Between 2008 and 2013, he ushered in constitutional reforms rolling back presidential powers, and the 68-year-old’s second term will see him steer a largely ceremonial office.

He has spent more than 11 years in jail, a long time even by the standards of Pakistani politicians, with a wheeler-dealer’s talent for bouncing back after scandals.