Zardari successfully sends 'strong' message across The third candidate for premiership, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, withdrew his candidature from election for the leader of the House. Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza announced withdrawal of his candidature. The members of the JUI-F and one member from Fata abstained from the election process.
On the occasion, Mualana Fazlur Rehman said he had unsuccessfully tried his level best to bring a unanimous candidate to become leader of the House in the National Assembly with a view to avoiding confrontation among the institutions. "I failed to meet my desired objective so I decided to withdraw my candidature and decided to abstain from the election process," he said. The total number of seats of the National Assembly is 342, but the present strength is 338 as four seats are vacant. Ten MNAs did not cast their votes. A total of 300 members cast their votes while 30 were absent.
Faisal Saleh Hayat of PML-Q, who had filed a petition in Supreme Court about corruption in Rental Power Projects against Raja Pervez Ashraf, also cast his vote in his favour. Faisal also greeted Raja on his success. As the National Assembly session began, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman urged the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings due to recent deaths of MNAs Fauzia Wahab and Zayed Khan. PPP leader Naveed Qamar objected to the suggestion, saying that Friday's session was no ordinary session.
Raja Pervez Ashraf is the fourth prime minister from the PPP. He has succeeded Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in a contempt verdict. In his maiden speech, Prime Minister-elect Raja Pervez Ashraf paid glowing tributes to the outgoing prime minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, for his services to the party, democracy and the country. He urged the Opposition to cooperate in resolving big challenges faced by the country. He also invited the opposition for negotiations and reconciliation and vowed to ensure supremacy of Parliament, strengthening of democracy and holding of free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
"We want to follow the ideology of Benazir Bhutto based on reconciliation and invite the opposition to the table to resolve the problems of price hike, unemployment, energy crises and Balochistan issue. We believe in the institutions not personalities. Powers to all the institutions flows from the Parliament. We do not want confrontation among the institutions," he said.
He said his government would take steps for the progress of agriculture and industrial sectors. He said that he would use all his abilities to establish good governance. The newly-elect Prime Minister said that Pakistan wanted to maintain good relations with its neighbours. We are ready to address all the outstanding issues including the dispute of Kashmir, with India through negotiations. "Parliament manifests aspirations of the people," he said.
He said that some "undemocratic minds" tried to belittle the significance of democracy and the people of Pakistan. This was an irresponsible thinking that the country could be run against the aspirations of the people, he said. He also thanked his party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Co-Chairman President Asif Ali Zardari, former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and leadership of coalition partners and the members of the House on his success.
AFP adds: "Raja Pervez Ashraf is declared to be elected as prime minister of the Islamic republic of Pakistan," speaker Fehmida Mirza announced. President Asif Ali Zardari will now hope that Ashraf can form a cabinet able to see through the government's five-year term in office, due to expire in February 2013, without the need for early elections.
But Ashraf is a controversial choice. Currently fighting a corruption case from his tenure as water and power minister, he has also been blamed for much of the government's inability to resolve a disastrous energy crisis. The change in premier is likely to ease little of Pakistan's myriad problems, not least appalling power cuts that enrage millions or a stalemate in US relations that have led to a seven-month blockade on Nato supplies into Afghanistan.
Ashraf will also come under immediate pressure from the Supreme Court to write to Swiss authorities, asking them to reopen investigations into Zardari. The Pakistan People's Party government, dogged by corruption allegations, has been locked in a stand-off with the judiciary for years, accused of working behind the scenes with the military and the political opposition.
Its culmination came on Tuesday when the Supreme Court unceremoniously evicted Yousuf Raza Gilani from the prime minister's office after convicting him of contempt for refusing to reopen Swiss corruption cases against Zardari. Two days later an anti-narcotics court ordered the arrest of Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Zardari's nomination to replace Gilani, over a drugs scandal.
The PPP dropped Shahabuddin. Analysts suggested the arrest warrant had been engineered by the military, the chief arbiter of power. Ashraf has promised to make the power crisis his priority despite being widely criticised for incompetency when power minister from March 2008 to February 2011.
"I hope soon we will find a solution," he told reporters Friday. But the question now remains when the next general election will be held. "If we have committed some mistakes or did not fulfil our manifesto, then the decision should be left to the people of Pakistan," senior PPP official Syed Khurshid Shah conceded.
Some analysts had expected the party to favour information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira as the next prime minister, as he is considered to have more political clout and a clean record. Shahabuddin said the arrest warrant against him was "a conspiracy" to embarrass Zardari.
The arrest warrant was issued on Thursday by an anti-narcotics court over his alleged involvement in the illegal import of a controlled drug in 2010 when he was health minister. Analysts said it signalled that the powerful military were unprepared to back Shahabuddin. A warrant was also issued for Ali Musa Gilani, son of the outgoing premier.
The PPP won elections in 2008 ending nearly a decade of military rule and stands to become the first elected administration in Pakistan's history to complete its term in office and hand over to another elected government. Gilani's disqualification was the culmination of a showdown between the judiciary, led by a popular chief justice and a weak ineffective government, that critics say has been politicised at best, or vendetta-driven at worst.
The cases against Zardari date to the 1990s, when he and Bhutto are suspected of using Swiss banks to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs contracts. The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008 when Zardari became president.