Asif Ali Zardari is president of Pakistan. The more important question, therefore, relates to his suitability and, by extension, to what lies ahead. Three broad arguments have emerged about his unsuitability for the job.

The first draws on moral immaculacy. Zardari doesn’t have a very savoury past and he has looted and stashed away millions. How can someone like that be the helmsman?

The second, advanced mostly by those within the Pakistan People’s Party who Zardari has sidelined, points to his having been a mere hanger-on when Benazir Bhutto was leading the party. He is at the top by default.

The third, more sophisticated, contemplates what the constitution will look like given that it makes no sense for Zardari to bid for the president’s office without the powers that General-President Musharraf had put in there and which make it so coveted. It is precisely here that the rub lies. If those powers are to stay, the prime minister will continue to remain at the mercy of the president. This is anomalous in a parliamentary system and the PPP, which Zardari leads, has been promising to restore the powers of the PM by cutting the president down to size. Clearly, Zardari and, under him, the PPP have moved away from that position.

Finally, though not directly linked to Zardari’s suitability, is the question of where the centre of gravity would lie in terms of decision-making.

Moral immaculacy and politics do not sit well together, especially in South Asia. Musharraf was not acceptable to Pakistanis because of the legitimacy factor. Despite his earlier good ratings, he had to constantly seek legitimacy. It finally pulled him down.

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