Pakistan lawmakers elect Asif Ali Zardari as country's new president

Pakistani lawmakers have elected Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairman of centre-left Pakistan People's Party (PPP), as the country's 14th president.

Zardari, 68, the widower of the two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the candidate of the ruling coalition, defeated Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a veteran politician from the southwestern Balochistan province, and a candidate of the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council, a religiopolitical group and new home to lawmakers belonging to jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Zardari was voted in with 411 votes to 181 for the opposition-backed candidate, according to a local media tally of votes by national MPs, provincial MPs and senators.

Some small political parties, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami, boycotted the election and no MP from these parties cast their votes.

The voting started at 10 a.m. local time (0500GMT) at the National Assembly building in Islamabad and all four provincial capitals and continued until 4 p.m. (1100GMT).

Zardari is the only politician elected to the country's highest, yet symbolic, constitutional office for a second term. He previously served as the president in 2008-2013 during the government of his own party.

The election commission will announce the official result later Saturday, with Zardari expected to be sworn in at a ceremony on Sunday.

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Source: TRT