Zardari set to sweep Pak Presidential elections

Rezaul H. Laskar

Islamabad, Sept 5 (PTI) Pakistan's ruling P.P.P. chief
Asif Ali Zardari appears set to sweep Saturday's presidential
poll and would be expected to tackle problems like rising
militancy and economic malaise after his election.

Although Zardari has barely stirred out of the federal
capital due to security concerns, his two rivals have been
criss crossing the country to drum up support.

But the 53-year-old widower of former premier Benazir
Bhutto, who became head of the P.P.P. after she was
assassinated in December last year, has been billed the
front-runner to win the election despite the P.M.L.-N.'s
decision to pull out of the ruling coalition and fielded a
candidate against Zardari.

Sources said that Zardari expects to poll over 60 percent
of the 700 members in the electoral college, in an election
necessitated by former President Pervez Musharraf's
resignation on August 18.

P.P.P. has been able to rope in the backing from smaller
parties like the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami
National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and dissidents from
the main opposition P.M.L.-Q.

The party commands adequate support in the two houses of
parliament, the Senate and National Assembly, and the four
provincial assemblies, which comprise the electoral college
for the polls.

In significant pre-poll comments, Zardari has said that
he intends to trim the President's sweeping powers, which
included authority to dissolve Parliament and dismiss Premier.

He also vowed to defeat the "domestic Taliban insurgency"
and said his country stands with the U.S. in the fight in the
war against terror.

Since the election schedule was announced last month,
Zardari has largely been confined to the Prime Minister's
House – to which he shifted from his residence because of
security concerns.

His rivals P.M.L.-Q. secretary general Mushahid Hussain
Sayed and former Chief Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, who is
backed by the P.M.L.-N., have travelled across the provinces
to seek support for themselves.

Zardari met members of parliament and the provincial
assemblies at the Prime Minister's House and Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani travelled to provincial capitals to seek
votes for him.

Most observers believe Siddiqui and Sayed stand no chance
of winning against Zardari. Siddiqui has showed restraint and
not issued any statement against his rival candidates but
Sayed has openly targeted Zardari, raising questions about
media reports on the state of his mental health and the source
of U.S.D. 60 million in Swiss bank accounts that were recently
unfrozen.

The P.P.P.'s leaders and ministers have mounted a
spirited defence of Zardari and Gilani has said the premier
and President should be from the same party to ensure
stability.

Zardari's opponents, including Sharif, have also
questioned the P.P.P.'s decision to field him without
repealing the President's controversial powers to dissolve
parliament and dismiss the Prime Minister.

Sharif has been insisting that a "non-partisan" candidate
should have been fielded in keeping with an agreement between
the P.P.P. and P.M.L.-N., which he has accused Zardari of
violating.