Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Zardari was sworn in as Pakistan's 14th president on Sunday, officially taking charge of the government for the second time in history after winning a one-sided presidential election the day before.
According to Pakistan's Election Commission, Zardari won 411 electoral votes on Saturday, defeating his rival Mahmoud Khan Achakzai, leader of the Awami Pashtunkha National Party, who won a total of 181 electoral votes.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Faiz Isa today administered the oath of office to Asif Zardari at the President's Residence in Islamabad. Newly elected Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and outgoing President Dr Arif Alavi were also with him.
Army Commander General Asim Munir and Chairman of the Joint Army Staff Committee General Soheir Shamshad Mirza were also present at the ceremony, while party chairman Balool Bhutto Zardari (Popular) sat next to them.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Siddique, former federal ministers Sheri Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar, Khurshid Ali Shah, Ishaq Dar, and many other political leaders, Chief Minister of Sindh and Balochistan Syed Murad Ali Shah and Prime Minister Sarfraz Bugti. Ministers from Sindh and Balochistan participated. Punjab Governor Kamran Tasuri and Baligur Rehman also attended the event.
Zardari's family included her daughters Asifah Bhutto Zardari and Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, her husband, and Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur.
Zardari is the only person elected to a second term as head of state and one of four democratically elected presidents to complete their five-year constitutional term.
Zardari was chosen as the joint candidate of the PML-N-led coalition government with PML-N leader Shahbaz as Prime Minister, replacing Dr Arif Alvi, who has been absent from the polls for over five months. The college would elect a new president after his five-year term ends in September 2023.
