Asif Ali Zardari secures 411 votes; Mahmood Khan Achakzai 181 votes in presidential election

ISLAMABAD, March 09 (SABAH): Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has been elected 14^th President of Pakistan while securing 411 votes. Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman and joint candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Mahmood Khan Achakzai remained the runner up while securing 181 votes.

Asif Ali Zardari secured 255 from Senate of Pakistan and National Assembly; meanwhile Mahmood Khan Achakzai secured 119 votes from Senate of Pakistan and National Assembly. The final result of the presidential election has been announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Voting to elect the 14th president of Pakistan for next five years was held in the Senate, and national and provincial assemblies on Saturday.

The voting concluded at 4:00 PM and counting began. The voting was held from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM without break. 

The first vote for the presidential election was cast by Amer Talal Gopang and Abdul Aleem Khan cast the second vote. Two polling booths and two counters had been set up in the National Assembly for the voting process.

The joint candidate of the ruling coalition, Asif Ali Zardari, secured 246 votes while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai got 100 votes in the Punjab Assembly.

Overall 352 lawmakers cast ballots, while six votes were rejected by the presiding officer.

Asif Ali Zardari clinched 151 votes, while PTI-backed SIC candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai got 9 votes in the Sindh Assembly.

PTI-backed SIC candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai bagged 91 votes in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly against his rival PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari managed to get only 17 votes in the provincial legislature. As many as 109 KP Assembly members out of a total of 118 cast ballots while one vote was rejected.

Ruling alliance joint candidate Asif Ali Zadari secured 47 electoral votes from Balochistan Assembly, while PTI-backed SIC candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai could not secure a single vote in the provincial assembly, according to a result announced by a presiding officer.

Meanwhile the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) turned down the application filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) presidential candidate Mahmood Achakzai seeking a delay in the election of the head of state.

“In exercise of powers conferred upon it [commission] under Articles 218(3) and 41 of the Constitution read with Second Schedule and further read with Presidential Election Rules,1988, decline to delay the Election to the office of the President and reject the application of the petitioner,” the electoral body’s order signed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja and others read.

Achakzai on Friday had written to the CEC seeking a postponement in presidential polls slated for Saturday contending that the electoral college as “prescribed by law and Constitution” for a presidential election was “still incomplete” because “some reserved seats” in the National Assembly and all provincial assemblies are still vacant.

The presidential candidate, who was contesting against Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari for the top office, added that the electoral college cannot be completed till the seats are filled. He added that till the seats are not filled the presidential polls would be “illegal, unlawful and against the spirit of the Constitution”.

He also mentioned the Peshawar High Court (PHC) stay order on the reserved seats which he believes would give a “clear verdict” in favour of the PTI-backed party.

The ECP, in its detailed order, said that the electoral college cannot be deemed to be in-complete for any vacancy (ies) under present circumstances.

“Although the provision of section 130 pertains to the election of members of the Senate there is no direct provision on the same issue in the Constitution or the Presidential Election Rules, the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan in a plethora of judgements has held that if no provision pertaining to an issue is available in the Constitution or statute, then reference can be made to other provisions of the Constitution or the Statute for the purpose of interpretation.

“The Election to the office of the President is a Constitutional Imperative in terms of Article 41 of the Constitution and cannot be delayed beyond 30 days. The Electoral College cannot be deemed to be in complete for want of vacancy (ies) because recently 22 MNA(s)/MPA(s) have vacated the seats whereby they were elected from more than one seat,” the electoral body’s order noted.

Highlighting Achakzai’s failure to raise any objection to the alleged incomplete electoral college, the ECP stressed: “Had it been the intention of the framers of the Constitution that the Electoral College(s) shall be incomplete for want of vacancies for election to the Office of the President, it would have been provided expressly in the Constitution.

“In the absence of any express bar, it can be safely presumed that the very existence of the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies is a complete Electoral College notwithstanding any vacancy,” it concluded.