Pakistan’s lawmakers elected Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday because the nation’s president for the second time.
Issued on:
1 min
He’s the widower of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto and the daddy of former overseas minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Zardari secured 411 votes from nationwide and provincial lawmakers. His opponent, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who’s backed by the occasion of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, obtained 181 votes.
The Pakistani presidency is a largely ceremonial position. Zardari was beforehand within the job between 2008 and 2013.
He was the favourite to win on Saturday due to his alliance with Pakistan’s different political dynasty, the Sharifs, and his key position in talks to kind a coalition authorities after the disputed nationwide parliamentary election on Feb. 8.
Final month’s ballot was overshadowed by militant violence, an unprecedented cellphone shutdown and vehement claims of vote-rigging from Khan’s occasion.
Learn extraThe ‘generals’ elections’ in Pakistan that turned in opposition to the navy
Khan was kicked out of workplace in 2022 and has confronted a variety of authorized challenges since then. He is at present serving a number of jail phrases.
Zardari additionally has been dogged by legal circumstances. He spent 11 years behind bars earlier than changing into president, however was by no means convicted and has denied any wrongdoing. He has been arrested and indicted on numerous costs lately.
He’ll take the oath of workplace on Sunday.
(AP)