Asif Ali Zardari voted Pakistan’s president for second time
Islamabad, Pakistan – AFP
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Pakistan’s slain first female leader Benazir Bhutto, was voted in as president for a second time Saturday, after elections marred by rigging claims.
Zardari was voted in with 411 votes to 181 for the opposition-backed candidate, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced after tallying the votes by national MPs, provincial MPs and senators.
Lawmakers of Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) voted Zardari into the largely ceremonial post, backed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in an alliance forged after the February 8 polls.
Under the terms of the coalition pact, which also includes a handful of smaller parties, PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif was sworn-in as prime minister on Monday.
Pakistan’s February 8 election was tainted by allegations of pre-poll rigging and vote tampering, with former prime minister Imran Khan jailed and barred from contesting and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party targeted by arrests and censorship, with members forced to stand as independents.
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