Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party, secured victory as Pakistan’s 14th President on Saturday, marking his second term as head of state.
Zardari, aged 68, emerged as the joint candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while his opponent, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, aged 75, represented the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). He garnered 255 votes, while his rival received 119 votes in the National Assembly and the Senate. The election took place as per the provisions of the Constitution, with the electoral college comprising newly elected members of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies.
In the Sindh Assembly, where Zardari’s PPP holds sway, he secured the majority of votes, similarly dominating in the Balochistan Assembly. Zardari also triumphed over Achakzai in the Punjab Assembly. However, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, where SIC/PTI governs, Achakzai garnered the most votes against Zardari.
A former businessman turned politician, Zardari is the widower of the late Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He will succeed the incumbent Dr. Arif Alvi, whose five-year term concluded last year but has continued due to the absence of a new electoral college. Zardari, who previously served as president from 2008 to 2013, is set to become the first civilian to be elected twice to the presidency. His inauguration is expected to take place on Sunday.
Achakzai, the leader of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), contested from the platform of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which gained prominence after independent candidates allied with Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf joined its ranks.
