ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who was elected as the country’s 14th president a day earlier with a wide margin, was today (Sunday) sworn in as the head of state.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to the newly elected President at an oath-taking ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, outgoing President Arif Alvi, all three service chiefs and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza.
In addition, the governors of all four provinces, chief ministers and foreign diplomats attended the ceremony.
Zardari, who was the joint candidate of the ruling alliance, was elected as the country’s president for the second time on Saturday after defeating PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai by a landslide.
The president-elect won 411 electoral votes in parliament and all four provincial assemblies with the support of allied parties – mainly the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
Meanwhile, his rival Achakzai got 181 votes as he could only secure a majority in the PTI-dominated SIC-backed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
In the National Assembly, Zardari got 225 votes while Achakzai got 119 votes. Meanwhile, in the Sindh Assembly, he got 53 votes while his opponent could only get three.
Zardar got 43 votes in the Punjab Assembly, eight in the KP Assembly and 47 in the Balochistan Assembly, while his rival got 18, 41 and 0, respectively.
This is the second time Zardari has won the presidency. He served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 and has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.
Zardari was born in 1955 and grew up and educated in Karachi. He was married to former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s daughter Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007.
Zardari will replace Dr Arif Alvi, who remained in office for another five months despite completing his five-year term in September 2023.
