Xi Jinping felicitates Asif Zardari on election as President

Islamabad: Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election as President of Pakistan.

In his message, Xi Jinping said China and Pakistan are good neighbors, good friends, good partners and good brothers.

He said the two countries have achieved fruitful results in the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and maintained a high level of development of bilateral relations.

The Chinese President said Beijing is ready to work with President Zardari to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Earlier, Joint candidate of PML-N and PPP Asif Ali Zardari was elected as the 14th President of Pakistan.

Asif Ali Zardari bagged four hundred and eleven votes from the Senate, the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.

His rival Sunni Ittehad Council's candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai got one hundred and eighty one votes.

In the election held at the Parliament House in Islamabad, Asif Ali Zardari secured two hundred and fifty five votes while Mahmood Khan Achakzai received one hundred and nineteen votes.

In the Punjab Assembly, Zardari garnered two hundred and forty-six votes while Achakzai trailed with one hundred votes.

The Sindh Assembly results showed Asif Ali Zardari securing one hundred and fifty-one votes and Mahmood Khan Achakzai nine votes.

In Balochistan Assembly, Asif Ali Zardari got forty-seven votes while his rival could not secure even a single one.

In the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Asif Ali Zardari secured seventeen votes and Mahmood Khan Achakzai clinched ninety-one votes.

Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, will assume the office of President of Pakistan for the historic second time in country's parliamentary history.

Born on July 26, 1955, in Karachi, Asif Ali Zardari is the son of Pakistani politician Hakim Ali Zardari.

Zardari served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 and was the first politician to complete a full term in office.

He has been a member of the national assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. His son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is the chairman of PPP.

Under 18th Amendment, Asif Ali Zardari gave away the presidential powers to strengthen parliamentary democracy and bolstered provincial autonomy, coined political reconciliation, helped policies that encompassed freedom of media, revived Pakistan's energy sector, and opened Pakistan to foreign direct investment.