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Pakistan chooses Zardari as Musharraf's successor

06/09/2008

Election commission officials have confirmed that Benazir Bhutto's widower Asif Zardari has been elected as Pakistan's new president.

The south Asian country's president is chosen by lawmakers in the parliament and the provincial assemblies, and the co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was seen as the frontrunner in the polls.

Official results show that a total of 436 votes were cast, Mr Zardari secured 281 votes while the candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Justice Saeed Siddiqui, was chosen by 111 lawmakers. The presidential nominee of former president Pervez Musharraf's party, Mushahid Hussain, secured 34 votes. Full results from all the provincial assemblies are yet to be announced but Mr Zardari already holds an unassailable lead.

The result means that both the prime minister and the president are from the PPP.

Elections for the country's presidency were triggered after the PPP and the PML-N called for former president Pervez Musharraf to be impeached. Mr Musharraf resigned from office in an address to the nation a few days after the ruling coalition's announcement to oust him.

Since then, the PML-N, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has formally withdrawn from the government over delays to reinstate judges sacked under the previous administration.

Analysts say political divisions are preventing Pakistan from confronting the deep-seated security problems it faces.

The threat of extremism springs from the mountainous region bordering Afghanistan, where the Pakistani military continues to fight militant groups who have responded with terror attacks occurring throughout the country.

Tensions were heightened ahead of the presidential election after a failed assassination attempt against prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday.