Zardari set to sweep Pak presidential elections

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 PPP after she was assassinated in December last year, has been billed the front-runner to win the election despite the PML-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 per cent of the 700 members in the electoral college, in an election necessitated by former President Pervez Musharraf’s resignation on August 18.

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 the premier.

He also vowed to defeat the “domestic Taliban insurgency” and said his country stands with the US in the war against terror.