Pakistan is all set to have its new president today (Saturday) and Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, is almost certain to return successful with overwhelming support of central and provincial legislators.
Zardari, whose party expects between 450 to 500 votes out of a total of 702 votes comprising members of the Senate, the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, faces challenge from lightweight opponents – PML-N’s Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui and PML-Q’s Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
Today’s presidential election is being held following resignation tendered by Pervez Musharraf, who escaped impeachment by stepping down under mounting pressure. The date of presidential election coincides with the Defence Day, and Zardari is fully geared to be head of the state in a democratic set-up, which was put in place as a result of the February 18, 2008, elections.
The PPP announced candidature of Asif Ali Zardari for the office of the president by annoying its major coalition partner Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N. In retaliation, Sharif announced his party’s decision of putting up a candidate, Justice (R) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, against Zardari.
Siddiqui was the one who unseated his own chief justice of that time through an alleged superior judiciary coup in connivance with Sharifs and others.
Mushahid Hussain Sayed is put up against Zardari just for the sake of formality, as PML-Q is desperate to keep its identity intact. The PPP’s move to occupy the highest office in Pakistan is a well-conceived decision, as last time Benazir Bhutto nominated her own party stalwart Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, who later sacked her government.
Zardari’s readiness to contest the election was widely hailed, as he belongs to a party which has its roots in the entire federation and he has already vowed to save the federation. Many see no contest between Zardari and his opponents, who have no hope to give a tough challenge to the most powerful politician in the country.
Zardari, however, avoided giving any number of votes. But he certainly claimed that the central and provincial legislators would support him massively. "I do not believe on numbers but to put in my best with no element of revenge in my mind," Asif Zardari told The News in a recent informal chat.
He also talked about his would-be style of working in the Presidency, as he has in hand a plan to uplift national economy, reconciliation, dealing with law and order and making his best to put Pakistan on road to progress and prosperity. "I will also give pardon to Musharraf," one of the closest aides quoted Zardari as saying.
In the election, the new president will be elected by an electoral college comprising members of both the Senate (100 senators) and the National Assembly (342 members) while votes of each of the four provincial assemblies will be counted equivalent to the 65 seats of the Balochistan Assembly which has minimum number of voters.
Votes of the provincial assembly’s of the Punjab, Sindh and NWFP will be multiplied by 65 and divided by the total number of votes in that particular assembly, to get the weighted value of the vote.
The constitution envisages that the candidate for the president must be a Muslim, aged 45 or more and having qualification to be a member of National Assembly. The polling will be held in the Parliament House and in all the four provincial assemblies and there will be a secret balloting to take place from 10.00 in the morning till 3.00 in the afternoon. The unofficial results would be announced soon after the count is complete.
The Election Commission (EC) has already completed printing of the ballot papers and finalised arrangements for today’s poll. The chief election commissioner, in his capacity as the returning officer, has nominated Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, Justice Jehan Zaib Rahim, acting Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, and Justice Amanullah Khan, Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court, as presiding officers for the provincial assemblies of the Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan respectively.
In a healthy tradition, the contesting parties did not raise any objection to each others’ candidate, though the EC rejected nomination papers of 28 candidates out of 33 for filing incomplete documents or for not fulfilling the requirements.
According to the counting procedure released by the EC:
"(1) The Chief Election Commissioner shall determine the result of the election in the following manner, namely: (a) the number of votes cast in the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) in favour of each candidate shall be counted; (b) the number of votes cast in a Provincial Assembly in favour of each candidate shall be multiplied by the total number of seats in the Provincial Assembly for the time being having the smallest number of seats and divided by the total number of seats in the Provincial Assembly in which the votes have been cast; and (c) the number of votes calculated in the manner referred to in clause (b) shall be added to the number of votes counted under clause (a). Explanation: In this paragraph, "total number of seats" includes seats reserved for non-Muslims and Women."
Babar Dogar adds from Lahore: The Punjab Assembly is all set to hold the presidential election today. The PA speaker on Friday got a resolution passed for using the assembly chamber as the polling station for the presidential election.
Justice Syed Zahid Hussain will chair the Saturday’s session to conduct the electoral process. The Speaker during session guided the provincial legislators about the process of casting votes.
Our Peshawar bureau adds: All 124 members of the NWFP Assembly will cast their votes to elect 13th president of the country today. Speaker Karamatullah Khan Chagharmati has summoned the provincial assembly session for the election.