look news india
Islamabad: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was on Saturday elected as the country's President for the second time after registering a landslide victory over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
Zardari, 68, was the joint candidate of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while his rival Mahmood Khan Achakzai, 75, was the candidate of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
The new President was elected by an electoral college of newly elected members of the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Businessman-turned-politician Zardari is the husband of late Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Pakistani media reported that he got 255 votes while his rival got 119 votes.
Zardari will replace outgoing Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he continued because the new Electoral College had not yet been formed.
Zardari, who was President from 2008 to 2013, will also be the first civilian to be elected President for a second term.
Achakzai heads his own Pashtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and was contesting the elections on the platform of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after the rise to prominence of independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. .