Pak lawmakers vote for President

Rezaul H. Laskar

Islamabad, Sep 6 (PTI) Pakistani lawmakers today voted in
the presidential poll expected to be swept by the ruling
Pakistan People's Party chief Asif Ali Zardari.

52-year-old Zardari is engaged in a three-corner fight
with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Saeed-uz-Zaman
Siddiqui and opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-e-Azam
leader Mushahid Hussain Sayed.

He is expected to win easily despite the P.M.L.-N.'s
decision last month to pull out of the ruling coalition as the
P.P.P. co-Chairman has the backing of several smaller parties
and independent lawmakers.

Chief Election Commission Qazi Muhammad Farooq
supervised the polling in a joint sitting of the 100-member
Senate and the 342-strong National Assembly, the two houses of
Parliament.

The voting, which will last till 3 pm local time, was
being held simultaneously in the four provincial assemblies of
Punjab, Sindh, North West Frontier Province and Balochistan.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the
unofficial result shortly after the end of the polling, which
was being conducted through secret ballot.

The election was necessitated by the resignation last
month of former President Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down
to avoid impeachment by the ruling coalition.

A week after his resignation, the P.M.L.-N. pulled out
of the alliance accusing Zardari of reneging on promises to
restore judges deposed during last year's emergency and to
field a non-partisan candidate for the presidential poll.

Musharraf had swept the last presidential election held
in October last year to obtain a second five-year term but the
P.P.P. and P.M.L.-N. had opposed his re-election, saying the
electoral college had comprised the national and provincial
assemblies that were on the verge of completing their terms.