Asif Zardari elected president of Pakistan for second time

Islamabad: Asif Ali Zardari, the candidate of the government coalition, was elected as the 14th President of the country with 411 electoral votes against Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who has amassed 181 electoral votes.

The polling process for the presidential elections in the National Assembly, Senate, and the four provincial assemblies started at 10 a.m. and continued till 4 p.m. Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party, JUI (F), boycotted the election process, while the members of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Parliament and Provincial Assemblies also did not cast their votes.

In Parliament House, 255 members voted for Asif Ali Zardari, while 119 votes were cast for Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

381 out of 398 votes were cast in the National Assembly. Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan of JI and 13 members of JUI (F) did not cast their votes.

Additionally, Shibli Faraz, Azam Swati, Muzaffar Hussain Shah, and Ejaz Chaudhry did not cast their votes.

In the Sindh Assembly, Asif Ali Zardari got 151 votes, while Mehmood Khan Achakzai got 9 votes.

A total of 161 votes were cast, of which one was rejected; the member of JI did not participate in the polling.

The counting of votes in the Punjab Assembly has been completed, where Ali Zardari secured 246 votes while his opponent Achakzai secured 100 votes.

During the election, the votes of 6 members were rejected; 352 out of 353 members voted in the Provincial Assembly, while TLP members did not participate in the voting.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 91 members voted for Mahmood Achakzai, while 17 members voted for Asif Ali Zardari, the candidate of the government coalition, one vote was rejected in the count.

Asif Ali Zardari got 47 votes in Balochistan Assembly while no member voted for Mahmood Khan Achakzai.