Zardari’s second term oath today.
Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the PPP, won the presidency by a large margin and will be sworn in today at 4pm in Islamabad. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa will administer the oath. The ceremony will be attended by PM Shehbaz Sharif, service chiefs, governors, chief ministers, and foreign diplomats.
Zardari secured 411 votes from parliament and provincial assemblies with support from allied parties like PML-N and MQM-P. His opponent, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, got 181 votes. Zardari won in the National Assembly and Sindh Assembly but lost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This is Zardari’s second term as president; he previously served from 2008 to 2013. He has been a member of the National Assembly since August 2018. Zardari, born in 1955 in Karachi, was married to Benazir Bhutto, daughter of former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. He replaces Dr. Arif Alvi, who served beyond his term until September 2023.
