Who is Asif Ali Zardari?
Asif Ali Zaradri, 68 is elected as the 14th President of Pakistan. He was elected on March 9,2024, Zardari is the only civilian President in the history of Pakistan. He is the co-chirperson of the PPP, which is the Pakistan Peoples Party. The PPP recently joined hands with PML-N, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Asif Ali Zardari was the Presidential candidate for PPP and PML-N.
While on the other hand, the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party chose Mahmood Khan Achakzai who fought against Zardari for the post of President. He had the support of ISC, Sunni Ittehad Council.
Zardari’s Win
Asif Ali Zardari has got 255 votes and Mahmood Khan Achakzai , his rival received 119 in total.The 14th President OF Pakistan was elected by National Assembly and the four provisional assemblies. These together formed the electoral college.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the Chief Justice of Pakistan will make the elected President take oath on March 10,2024 at the President House.
In the Punjab Assembly, Achakzai got 18 votes while Zardari got 43 votes. Though the ruling party over there is PML-N. In the Sindh Assembly , where the government happens to be of PPP,Zardari received 58 votes and in the Balochistan Assembly also, he got 47 votes.
While in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Achakzai took the lead by securing 41 votes while Zardari managed to gain merely 8 votes.
Allegations on Zardari in the Past
Asif Ali Zardari , was earlier a businessman who later turned into a politician. He is the husband of Benazir Bhutto. Mr. Zardari was the President from 2008 to 2013, he has become the only and the first civilian President to be elected the second time as President.
Zaradari has faced corruption allegations in the past during Benazir Bhutto’s tenure as Prime Minister. His name came up in many cases of corruption and he has even been kept in jail for eleven long years , however later he was not convicted and his name was cleared from all such cases.
Challenges Faced in the Earlier Term and In The Coming Term
During his first tenure he saw several threats from Taliban after the USA carried out its operation in Pakistan and ended up killing Osama Bin Laden.
With the start of his second tenure as President, Pakistan is facing a challenging and a hard time on both economic and political fronts. It is expected that he might be playing a pivotal role in bringing a reconciliation between the former PM, Imran Khan and the newly formed government. The former jailed PM, imran Khan’s party PTI has alleged that the mandate was taken away from them in the recent elections that took place in February.
PTI feels that the presidential elections were unconstitutional and unacceptable. Imran Khan’s party has asked the citizens to organise protests and to stand up against this.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who lost the Prwsidential election against Zardari said that the elections were held in a fair manner. He said that in this elections the votes were not sold and they were neither bought. Hence they were held in a fair way.
PM Shehbaz Sharif Congratulated Mr. Zardari
PM, Sharif congratulated the President. Shebaz Sharif himself, is the President of PML-N party. He showed support and confidence in President Zardari that he will do all his duties with full commitment for the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation.
