Landslide victory for Zardari

By Shafqat Ali

Islamabad

Sept. 6: As expected, Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was on Saturday elected President of Pakistan with a thumping majority. The other two candidates — Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam)’s Mushahid Hussain Sayed — were nowhere in the contest with 153 and 43 electoral votes as against Mr Zardari’s 479.

For winning, a candidate had to secure 352 votes from the electoral college of 702.

The Parliament building reverberated with vociferous slogans of Jeay Bhutto (Long live Bhutto) and Zinda hai BB zinda hai (Benazir Bhutto lives on) raised by the parliamentarians and joined by those in the galleries after Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammed Farooq announced the unofficial results. Outside the Parliament building, PPP workers were in a festive mood chanting slogans in favour of Mr Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the PPP.

More than half of the PML-Q members largely voted for Mr Zardari and in a few cases for the PML-N candidate, thus exposing major cracks in the party that former President Pervez Musharraf formed to work under him for five years from 2002 to 2007.

It was only in Punjab that the PML-N won more votes than the PPP. In the other three provincial Assemblies and Parliament, comprising the Senate and the National Assembly, it was a one-sided affair.

Out of the 440 members of Parliament, 436 members voted. Ten votes were declared invalid. Mr Zardari received 281, Mr Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui 111 and Mr Mushahid Hussain Sayed got only 34 votes.

In the Punjab Assembly, all 370 votes were cast, out of which Mr Zardari received 123 votes, Mr Siddiqui got 201 while Mr Sayed received 36 votes. Ten votes were rejected in the House.

In the Sindh Assembly, a total of 163 votes were cast out of a total 166. Mr Zardari received 162 votes, while one vote was declared invalid. The other two contesting candidates did not receive any vote from the Assembly. In the NWFP Assembly, all the 124 members cast their votes. Mr Zardari received 107 votes, Mr Siddiqui got 10 and Mr Sayed got 3 votes while 4 votes were rejected.

In the Balochistan Assembly, 63 out of 65 votes were cast, out of which Mr Zardari received 59, Mr Siddiqui and Mr Sayed got 2 votes each.

As per electoral votes, wherein all provincial Assemblies have 65 votes, Mr Zardari received 281 votes from Parliament, 62 from Sindh, 59 from Balochistan, 56 from NWFP and 21 from Punjab.

Chief Election Commissioner Farooq will announce the official results of the presidential election followed by the oath-taking by the newly-elected President on Monday or Tuesday. Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar will administer the oath.

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) on Saturday accepted defeat in Saturday’s Presidential election. "We accepted the (election) results," PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said, adding that the PML-N will definitely participate in the oath-taking ceremony of Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr Sharif said that democracy is the real goal of Pakistan, but he fears that the policies of the previous government are still continuing. He said that his party would not become a part of any move to destabilise the PPP-led government.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday said his first advice to the newly-elected President would be to address the joint-session of Parliament. The Prime Minister said Parliament is the constituency of the President and he is part of Parliament and it is a constitutional obligation of the President to address Parliament, a practice that had been ignored for several years. The Prime Minister said, "I assure you there will be no tussle among various institutions of the country as our aim is to strengthen you (people)."