Pakistan Peoples Party’s Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has been elected as the president for the second time with an overwhelming majority, beating the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed Sunni Ittehad Council candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
Voting was held through a secret ballot and polling for the election of the Pakistan’s 14th president concluded in country’s national and provincial assemblies.
Asif Ali Zardari, the joint candidate of PPP and the PML-N, and Sunni Ittehad Council’s candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai contested for the office of President.
Asif Ali Zardari secured 255 electoral votes in parliament in the presidential election.
PTI-backed SIC candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai bagged 119 votes in parliament comprising the National Assembly and Senate. Only 1 vote was rejected in parliament.
SIC-backed Mahmood Khan Achakzai has bagged 91 votes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the coalition government’s nominee for the presidential elections, Asif Ali Zardari, has managed 17.
A total of 109 votes were cast from KP.
Asif Ali Zardari has received 151 votes from Sindh in the presidential election while PkMAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai only managed nine votes, according to unofficial and preliminary results.
Presidential candidate Asif Ali Zardari has received 246 votes in the Punjab Assembly while his opponent PkMAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai managed to only get 100 votes, according to preliminary results.
Out of the 352 cast votes, six were rejected. The counting of votes took place under the Election Commission of Pakistan’s presiding officer Nisar Durrani.
Asif Ali Zardari has clean swept the Balochistan Assembly votes during the presidential election, according to unofficial results.
Forty-seven members from Balochistan cast their votes, with all of them voting for Zardari and none for PTI-backed Mahmood Khan Achakzai. Fifteen members were absent from the assembly.
The current ruling coalition, comprising the PML-N, the PPP, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), has backed former president Asif Ali Zardari.
The President is elected by an electoral college comprising members of the Senate, National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies.
A joint session of the parliament was held at the parliament house in Islamabad today where the members of National Assembly and the Senate will exercise their right to vote.
Similarly, the provincial assemblies also holding their sessions today for the election.
The Election Commission of Pakistan Saturday declared all four assemblies as a polling station for the conduct of the presidential elections.
