Asif Zardari sworn in as 14th President of Pakistan

• Asif Ali Zardari becomes president for second time.
• PM Shehbaz, CJCSC, services chiefs attend ceremony. 
• Zardari bagged 411 electoral votes to win presidency. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples 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 taken oath as the head of state today (Sunday). 

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to the newly-elected president at the swearing-in ceremony that took place at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, outgoing president Arif Alvi, all three service chiefs, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza.

Moreover, governors of all four provinces, chief ministers and foreign diplomats also participated in the ceremony. 

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

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

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