News and comment about Mr. Zardari becoming the President of Pakistan
Zardari clear winner
By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, swept to victory in a presidential election on Saturday.
Underscoring the problems he faces, a suicide car bomber killed 16 people in an attack on a police post in the northwestern city of Peshawar. At least five of the dead were policemen, and the blast wounded about 40 people.
Investors and foreign allies led by the United States hope the election will bring some stability after months of political turmoil and rising militant violence. The uncertainty has dragged stocks and the rupee sharply lower.
Members of the two-chamber parliament and four provincial assemblies voted on a replacement for deeply unpopular Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month.
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Zardari Wins Pakistan's Presidency
By PETER WONACOTT
ISLAMABAD -- Asif Ali Zardari won the presidency of Pakistan Saturday, in a vote that continued the country's shift from military rule and completed a political resurrection for the controversial spouse of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The final tally from an electoral college showed Mr. Zardari with an unassailable lead of 482 votes out of 702 votes cast . The triumph reflected the political clout of his Pakistan People's Party among provincial and national assemblies as well as the Senate, which together made up the body casting the votes. (There is no general election for president).
The lawmakers voted for Mr. Zardari over two other candidates, a retired judge, Saeeduz Zaman Siddique, and Mushahid Hussain, a leader of a party that supported Mr. Zardari's predecessor, Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Musharraf is a former army chief who had ruled Pakistan since a 1999 military coup. Mr. Musharraf resigned last month rather than challenge a drive to impeach him.
"It's the end of dictatorship," said Rehman Malik, who heads Pakistan's Interior Ministry, told Pakistan's Dawn Television. The vote underscored, he added, "total consensus for the country."
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Zardari wins majority in Pakistan's presidential election
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday won majority in the presidential election, according to an unofficial result.
According to Pakistan's constitution, the candidate who has simple majority of the 702 votes will be the next president of the country.
Zardari, widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , secured 281 votes from the national parliament and has secured about 460 votes altogether from the total number of 702 votes though the rest of votes in eastern Punjab province is not announced yet.
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