ISLAMABAD/BEIJING: In a sign of massive support to Pakistan as always, Chinese President Xi Jinping Sunday greeted Asif Ali Zardari on his oath-taking as the 14th President of Pakistan and said he was ready to work with him to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries.
In a message, President Xi said China and Pakistan were good neighbors, good friends, good partners and good brothers.
He said the two countries had achieved fruitful results in the construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and maintained a high level of development of bilateral relations.
Zardari, the PPP Co-chairman, took oath for the second time as the President of Pakistan in a ceremony held at the President House here. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa administered him the oath.
Zardari, a joint candidate of the six-party ruling coalition, secured 411 electoral votes against the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad presidential candidate and PKMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai who got 181 votes. Zardari, 68, first assumed the office of the president in 2008 and completed the term in 2013 during which he rolled back the powers of the president to the prime minister.
Outgoing President Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, former caretaker prime minister Anwarul Haq Kakar, Governor Punjab Engineer Balighur Rehman, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Muhammad, Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf, Pakistan Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu, newly elected members of the National Assembly and foreign diplomats attended the ceremony.
PMLN supremo and former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari and Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari along with her husband, Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, PPP’s former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Senator Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar, Faisal Karim Kundi and leaders of PMLN and allied parties were also in attendance. However, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur did not attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Soon after the oath-taking ceremony, the Aiwan-e-Sadr echoed with the PPP’s traditional slogans. The Cabinet Division notified Asif Ali Zardari’s accession to the office of the president on March 10, 2024.
The notification said, “Asif Ali Zardari has, on this day, the 10th of March, 2024, taken the oath of Office of the President under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and assumed the Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
The oath-taking ceremony started with the permission of the outgoing President Dr Arif Alvi and concluded with the permission of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, who was returning officer for the presidential elections, issued Form-VII according to which out of a total of 1,044 votes polled in both the house of parliament — the Senate and National Assembly and all the four provincial assemblies — 1,035 were declared valid and nine invalid.
Out of the 374 valid votes polled in the Senate and National Assembly, Zardari got 255 votes, while Mehmood Khan Achakzai got 119 votes.
In the Punjab Assembly, a total of 352 votes were polled out of which 346 votes were declared valid and six invalid. Out of 346 valid votes, Zardari got 246 votes calculating to 43 electoral votes, while Mehmood Khan Achakzai got 100 votes, which was calculated to 18 electoral votes.
In the Sindh Assembly, a total of 161 votes were polled out of which 160 were declared valid and one invalid. Out of 160 valid votes, Zardari obtained 160 votes which calculated to 58 electoral votes while Mehmood Khan Achakzai obtained nine votes calculating to three electoral votes.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 109 votes were polled out of which 108 were declared valid and one invalid. Zardari obtained 17 votes calculating to 8 electoral votes, while Achakzai obtained 91 votes which calculated to 41 electoral votes.
In Balochistan Assembly, a total of 47 votes were polled out of which Zardari obtained all the valid votes while Mehmood Khan Achakzai did not get a single vote.
Out of the total valid votes of 1,035 from both the Senate and National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, Zardari obtained 716 votes, which calculated to 411 electoral votes while Achakzai obtained 319 votes, calculating to 181 electoral votes.
Meanwhile, congratulations also poured in from other countries following Zardari’s accession to the office of president.
In a message, President of Iran Syed Ebrahim Raeesi congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election as the president of Pakistan.
President Raeesi expressed hope that during his presidency, the relations between the two countries, having historical, cultural and religious history, will develop more and deepen than before.
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