Asif Ali Zardari elected as 14th President of Pakistan

Asif Ai Zardari has been elected as the 14^th President of Pakistan after the conclusion of the polls at the National Assembly on Saturday.

This is Zardari’s second term in the top office. The 68-year-old was first elected as the president back in 2008 and remained in office till 2013.

He was up against Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who had the support of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

A joint session of the parliament was held at the Parliament House, in which the members of the National Assembly and the Senate exercised their right to vote. the PPP’s candidate secured 255 votes to claim the President slot.

The polling was presided over by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.

Senator Sherry Rehman and Senator Shafiq Tareen were the polling agents of Asif Ali Zardari and Mahmood Khan Achakzai respectively.

Polling for the presidential election has begun at the Sindh Assembly, where Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Abdul Wasim cast the first vote from Sindh.

From Sindh, PPP’s home ground, Asif Zarfari secured 161 votes against the PMAP chief, who received only nine.

Jamaat-e-Islami didn’t participated in the Presidential polls.

آصف زرداری کو پارلیمنٹ میں واضح برتری
پاکستان کے 14ویں صدر کے انتخاب کیلئے ووٹوں کی گنتی جاری
5بجے تک پریذائیڈنگ افسر کی جانب سے اعلان کا امکان#PresidentialElection2024 #NawazSharif #AsifAliZardari #BreakingNews #GTVNews pic.twitter.com/INt4u1ZjQT

— GTV News HD (@GTVNewsPk) March 9, 2024

Prior to the polling, the ballot box was sealed in the presence of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, PPP’s Mukesh Kumar Chawala and MQM-P’s Abdul Basit.

Similarly, in the Punjab Assembly, Mr. Zardari received around 246 votes and 100 votes were casted in favour of Mr. Achakzai.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ibrahim presided over the electoral process. Mahmood Khan received 91 votes from KP, while the former President got 19 from the assembly.

Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan presided over the polling process in the Balochistan Assembly. A total of 47 votes were casted in the assembly and all are in favour of Asif Zardari.