Islamabad: Arifur Rehman Alvi was Tuesday elected as 13th President of Pakistan in a process marking culmination of the transfer of power that began after July 25 parliamentary election.
Alvi, a candidate of ruling Pakistan Awami Theek(PTI) of former cricketing hero Imran Khan, defeated Aitzaz Ahsan and pro-Taliban leader Maulana Fazalur Rehman, who were fielded by Pakistan Peoples Party and Paktsn Muslim League(N) respectively.
Earlier all efforts to field Aitzaz Ahsan as joint candidate of opposition failed in a development that exposed serious fissures between the two main opposition parties
The National Assembly, provincial seemblies and Senate elected the president, who is also supreme commander of Pakistani armed forces.
The newly elected president will take oath of the office on September 9 after the expiry of the five-year term of incumbent president Hussain.
While formal counting of the votes was under way till filing of this report, the Election Commission of Pakistan is scheduled to announce official results tomorrow.
Alvi, according to unofficial results, has edged out PML-N backed chief of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Fazlur Rehman; and senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan in the presidential race by garnering the most number of votes in at least four of the six leading parliamentary bodies in the country.
Of the 430 votes cast in the National Assembly and Senate, PTI's Alvi received 212 votes, JUI-F's Rehman bagged 131 and PPP's Ahsan garnered 81; six votes were rejected.
Of the 61 Balochistan Assembly members, 60 cast their votes, with former CM Nawab Sanaullah Zehri the sole absentee. According to provisional results reported by DawnNewsTV, PTI's Alvi secured 45 of the 60 votes cast by the province's newly elected lawmakers.
In Sindh Assembly, PPP's Ahsan garnered 100 votes, Dr Alvi bagged 56, whereas just a solitary vote was cast in the favour of JUI's Rehman; one vote was wasted.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Dr Alvi received 78 of the total 109 votes, while Rehman and Ahsan had 26 and five votes respectively to their names.
In Punjab Assembly, Dr Alvi secured 186 votes, whereas Rehman and Ahsan received 141 and 6 votes respectively; 18 votes were rejected.
"I am grateful to God that the PTI-nominated candidate has been successful in the presidential race today," Alvi said in his victory speech. "I am also thankful to Imran Khan for nominating me for such a big responsibility."
In his impending five-year term, Alvi said he hopes that the "fortunes of the poor" take a turn for the better, and that they get "food, shelter and clothing".
Alvi said that "from today I am not just president that was nominated by the PTI but I am the president of the entire nation and all parties. Each party has an equal right on me".
Born in 1949, Dr Alvi served twice as member of the National Assembly. This was his second tenure in the current assembly.
His father, Habib ur Rehman Alvi, was politically affiliated with Jamat-e-Islami, Pakistan. He received a degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery from De'Montmorency College of Dentistry. He completed his Masters in prosthodontics from the University of Michigan in 1975 and secured received Masters degree in orthodontics in 1984 from the University of the Pacific.
Alvi is a dentist by profession and served as the president of the Asia-Pacific Dental Federation and of the Pakistan Dental Association. He is one of the founding members of PTI.
