Pakistani President Zardari elected
On Saturday, Asif Ali Zardari emerged victorious in the run-off election to become Pakistan’s 14th president and the nation’s sole civilian leader for the second time. Zardari, who is also the co-chair of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was the joint candidate of the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which forms the governing coalition.
The leader of his adversary Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) is Mahmood Khan Achakzai. He was put out by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and led by the imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Not too long after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared the results of the election, the PPP wrote on X, “Asif Ali Zardari is the first civilian president in the history of Pakistan who was elected for a second term.”
On Sunday, he is anticipated to be sworn in. In both the National Assembly and the Senate, 68-year-old Zardari garnered 255 votes, while his 75-year-old opponent earned 119. The freshly elected members of the National Assembly and the four provincial legislatures that made up the electoral college chose the next president. Zardari, the late Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s husband, was a businessman before entering politics.
Due to his suspected participation in incidents of massive corruption during his wife’s two years as prime minister, Zardari has been plagued by his shadowy background. He was dubbed “Mr. 10%” for reportedly receiving his cut of bribes in construction projects. He was implicated in several corruption trials, spent years in prison, and even experienced abuse while inside, yet he never lost his signature grin or conviction and was finally found not guilty in every instance.
Zardari’s natural ability to bring disparate viewpoints to the table would be put to the test as he began his second term in power. The nation faced a shattered political and economic system with a greater need for reconciliation than at any other moment. He could have to assist in mending the rift between the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which maintains that the results of the February 8 elections were rigged in favor of the party.
