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Asif Ali Zardari sworn in as 14th President of the country

 ISLAMABAD, March 10 (SABAH): Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who was elected as the 14th president of the country with a big margin a day earlier, has sworn in the head of state on Sunday.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to Asif Ali Zardari during the ceremony held at the President House.

Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, former president Dr. Arif Alvi, PML-N supremo Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, services chiefs of Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy, chief ministers and governors of the provinces, members of assemblies, and ambassadors attended the oath-taking ceremony.

Asif Ali Zardari, who was the joint candidate of the ruling alliance, was elected as the country’s president for the second time on Saturday after he defeated PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai by a huge margin.

The president-elect secured 411 electoral votes in parliament and all four provincial assemblies with the backing of allied parties — mainly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

Meanwhile, his rival, Mahmood Khan Achakzai bagged 181 votes as he was only able to secure the majority of votes in the PTI-backed SIC-dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

In the National Assembly, Asif Zardari bagged 225 votes while Mahmood Achakzai received 119 votes. Meanwhile, in the Sindh Assembly, he gained 53 votes while his opponent could only get three.

Asif Zardar received 43 votes in the Punjab Assembly, eight in the KP Assembly and 47 in the Balochistan Assembly while his rival bagged 18, 41 and 0, respectively.

This is the second time Asif Zardari has won the presidency. He earlier served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 and has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.

Born in 1955, Asif Zardari was brought up and educated in Karachi. He was married to Pakistan’s former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s daughter, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007.

Asif Zardari will replace Dr. Arifur Rehman Alvi, who stayed in office for five more months despite completing his five-year term in September 2023.