Great Zardari to stand as Presidential candidate. This is excellent news. But why does PML (N) want to strip the Presidency of its power?
Bhutto’s widower Zardari to stand for president
Bhutto’s widower Zardari to stand for president
Published: Saturday, August 23, 2008
ISLAMABAD – Assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s widower will be a presidential candidate, an official of his party said on Saturday, a move that will be controversial if the presidency retains strong powers.
Who will replace Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president last Monday and whose strongman rule was unpopular with most Pakistanis, is one of a number of issues preoccupying ruling coalition parties as economic and security problems mount.
The Pakistan People’s Party, which Asif Ali Zardari leads, said on Friday it wanted him to run in the election for president, by legislators, on Sept. 6.
“Zardari has accepted the Pakistan People’s Party’s unanimous drafting of him and he will be the candidate of the Pakistan People’s Party,” senior party official Mian Raza Rabbani told a news conference.
No other candidate has declared an intention to stand.
The leader of Pakistan’s second biggest party, which is in an uneasy coalition with Zardari, declined earlier to comment on Zardari’s expected nomination but said the post should be stripped of powers, in particular that to dismiss parliament.
The coalition government led by Bhutto’s party has been riven by a dispute over the judiciary with the number two party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, threatening to pull out.