Bhutto’s widower elected to top office of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, was Saturday elected as the 12th president of Pakistan since the country was declared a republic in 1956 as members of the Senate, National Assembly and four provincial assemblies cast votes in their respective houses to elect successor of Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, who quit the top office on August 18 to avert imminent impeachment.

The election was held through a secret ballot. According to unofficial result announced by the chief election commissioner, out of total 702 votes Asif Ali Zardari secured 479 votes, including 281 from the Senate and National Assembly, 22 from Punjab, 64 from Sindh, 59 from Balochistan and 56 from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) assemblies.

Zardari secured 281 votes as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate out of 436 votes cast in Islamabad by the Senate and National Assembly members while Justice (Retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif secured 111 votes. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who was fielded by the Musharraf-backed former ruling party -- Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), could secure just 34 votes out of total 436 votes whereas 10 votes were declared invalid.

Zardari, who now leads the PPP as co-chairman with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari being the chairman, also swept the polls in the provincial legislatures in Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP. He bagged 100 per cent votes from assembly in his native Sindh province as he secured 162 of 163 votes cast in the house of 166 with one vote rejected. The rivals of Zardari could not get even a single vote in the Sindh Assembly.

The PPP candidate also emerged victorious in the Balochistan Assembly as he secured 59 of 63 votes polled in the house of 65, as two members abstained from voting. His rivals got two votes each.

In the NWFP Assembly, Zardari got 107 of 124 votes polled while the PML-N candidate bagged 10 votes and candidate of the PML-Q got only three votes whereas four votes were declared invalid.

However, he could not sweep poll in the Punjab Assembly as out of 370 votes he could secure 123 votes while 201 were bagged by the PML-N candidate and 36 by Mushahid Hussain Sayed of the PML-Q whereas 10 votes were declared invalid.

The PPP has described victory of Zardari as a victory for democracy. “It is a historic win. It is a victory for democracy,” said Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman. “This man suffered jail for more than 11 years for the sake of democracy and today he is elected as the president of the country and it is a sign of the strengthening of democracy,” she added.

Accepting its defeat in the presidential race, Sharif-led PML-N hoped that as the head of the state Zardari would remain apolitical. “We accept the results and we hope Zardari will resign from his party position immediately,” Khwaja Saad Rafiq, a member of the National Assembly belonging to the PML-N, told reporters after the election.

“We hope as president Zardari will remain apolitical,” said PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal.

After announcement of the unofficial results, Mushahid Hussain Sayed of the PML-Q congratulated Zardari on his election as the head of the state. Talking to reporters after the presidential election, he thanked all the workers of his party for supporting what he called the right and just despite the government pressure. “Now is the time for [Asif] Zardari to come forward with a renewed vision for Pakistan, take all the stakeholders onboard and become a symbol of federation,” Mushahid Hussain Sayed stressed.