Pakistani lawmakers elect Bhutto's widower as next president (Roundup)

Sep 6, 2008, 13:23 GMT

A boy embraces the huge portraits of ruling political party Pakistan People Party (PPP)\'s co-chairman and presidential candidate Asif Ali Zardari (R) and his wife slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as he celebrates the victory of Asif Ali Zardari as the President of the country, after the Presidential elections in Karachi Pakistan 06 September 2008. EPA/REHAN KHAN

Islamabad - Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was elected president of Pakistan Saturday by the country's lawmakers.

Zardari, 52, will replace former president Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month to avoid impeachment in the parliament.

Initial unofficial results showed Bhutto's widower gained 482 of the total 702 electoral votes in two houses of the parliament and four provincial assemblies.

'There were a total 426 valid ballots, of which 281 are in favour of Mr Asif Ali Zardari,' said Qazi Mohammed Farooq, the election officer in the parliament.

Zardari, who has headed the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) since Bhutto's assassination last year, swept to victory in three provincial assemblies, where he gained a total 179 of 195 votes.

His two daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa chanted 'Long live Bhutto' while waiving the picture of their assassinated mother from the visitors' gallery in the parliament.

Despite his victory, Zardai remains controversial. He is labeled as 'Mr 10 per cent', in reference to the percentage of kickbacks he would get on government contracts during the two prime ministerial terms of his wife in 1990s.

Questions have also been raised about his mental health. Citing a diagnosis by an American psychiatrist, the Financial Times reported last month that Bhutto's widower was suffering from dementia and stress because of his 11-year imprisonment over charges of corruption.

Zardari denies the allegations, saying he was never formally convicted of the charges in any court of law.

Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, a former Supreme Court chief justice and a nominee of the second-largest Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) remained the closest contender, winning 154 votes.

The only presidential constituency where Zardari lost to Siddiqui - by a difference of 14 votes - was the assembly of eastern Punjab province, a stronghold of PML-N's head and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Zardari and Sharif formed an alliance after February 18 general elections to form the government and managed to oust their common enemy Musharraf.

But Sharif broke down the coalition when Zardari refused to restore the senior judges sacked by Musharraf late last year and surrender the presidential powers to dissolve the parliament before nominating himself as the candidate for president's office.

Sharif says those presidential powers could allow Zardari to turn into a civilian dictator, and dash the nation's hopes for the supremacy of parliament.

However, his nominee Siddiqui congratulated Zardari on his victory and urged him to focus on the serious challenges the country is facing.

'Pakistan is passing through very difficult times. We are facing grave issues like terrorism, poverty, deteriorating economy, record inflation,' Siddiqui told reporters in Islamabad. 'Mr Zardari should work wisely to solve these problems.'

The most important of these challenges would be the problem of rising Islamic militancy in the lawless tribal areas, known sanctuaries for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, and neighbouring North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

More than a dozen people, including six policemen and two children, died on Saturday when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive laden car into a security check post. Around 40 people were injured in the explosion that demolished two nearby buildings.

It was the latest of a series of a country-wide bombing campaign by pro-Taliban militants entrenched in tribal belt that has killed more than 4,000 people during the last 19 months.

Insurgents also pose a great threat to the US-led international forces in Afghanistan, where they launch cross border attacks.

Washington has long been concerned over Pakistan's inability to stop cross-border raids by Taliban and has threatened to chase them inside Pakistani territory.

On Wednesday US troops carried out the first ground attack in the tribal district of South Waziristan in which, according to Pakistani claims, 20 civilians were killed.

The action fuelled anger in Pakistan. Zardari will have to strike a balance between the predominantly anti-Western public sentiment, and the country's need to maintain good ties with the US in its fight against extremism.

Third presidential candidate Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a career journalist and an outspoken politician, who has been nominated by Musharraf's former political ally Pakistan Muslim League-Quai, gained only 44 votes.