Zardari all set to win Presidential race

ISLAMABAD: All is set to elect the country's new President for a term of next five years on Sept 6, the day that coincides with the Defence Day of Pakistan.
The contest will be between Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), retired Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqi of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Mushahid Hussain Syed of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q).
The President will be elected by an electoral college comprising members of both houses of parliament and four provincial assemblies to put in place a new President following the resignation of Pervez Musharraf on Aug 18.
The candidate getting the simple majority from 702 votes will be country's next President. The National Assembly has 342 votes, the Senate 100, while votes of each of the four provincial assemblies will be counted equivalent to the 65 seats of Balochistan Assembly.
Votes of provincial assembly's of Punjab, Sindh and NWFP will be multiplied by 65 and divided by the total number of votes in that particular assembly, to get the weighted value of the vote.
Under the Constitution the candidate for the President must be a Muslim, aged 45 or younger and be qualified to become member of National Assembly.
Well-placed sources said Asif Ali Zardari is poised to clinch 475-500 votes in the presidential race, well ahead of his competitors.
While Justice Siddiqui is expected to clinch 150 votes and Mushahid Hussain Sayed is believed to bag around 50 votes. Though the PML-Q has a total of 131 votes in the electoral college for the presidential polls, most of the party legislators are set to ditch their Secretary General on Saturday.
Zardari, who spent 11 years in jail on corruption and other charges but was never convicted, is seen as close to the United States and has repeatedly stressed the commitment of nuclear-armed Pakistan to the campaign against militancy.
Sources claimed that out of 86 MPAs in Punjab Assembly, PML-Q would only bag around 15 MPAs' ballots which mean only 3-4 votes in the electoral college.
"Out of 54 MNAs, 33 votes are likely to go to Asif Zardari as Arbab Ghulam Rahim Group from Sindh has pledged full support to the PPP chief. Another group led by Riaz Fatyana, comprising 15 MNAs has also promised to vote for Zardari while a group of senior MNAs and Senators would also vote for Zardari. Mushahid is likely to bag only 22 votes in the National Assembly," said the party sources.
The sources added that out of 38 senators belonging to PML-Q, only 25 senators are likely to vote for Mushahid Hussain Sayed. Rest would vote for Zardari who is sailing through well in the presidential race.
"No Senator, MNA or MPA from Balochistan would vote for Mushahid Hussain. Same would be the case with Sindh while he is likely to get two votes from NWFP," said the sources.
PML-N sources claimed that their candidate would bag more than 150 votes. Another legislator of PML-N went on to say that their candidate would bag more than 200 votes.
PPP sources claimed a smooth sailing for Asif Zardari who is likely to clinch around 500 votes.
When contacted, PPP leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah hopes to bag more than 500 votes and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari would get a landslide victory in the election being held on September 6.
"We will get 475-500 votes for our presidential candidate", said Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khursheed Shah in an exclusive talk with APP here Friday.
He said that National People's Party (NPP-Jatoi) had also announced its support to Zardari.
According to a notification by the Election Commission the polling, through a secret ballot, would simultaneously begin at the Parliament House and the four Provincial Assemblies at 10 in the morning and conclude at 3 in the afternoon.
The unofficial results would be announced soon after the count is complete.
The Chief Election Commissioner, in his capacity as the Returning Officer, has nominated Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Chief Justice of High Court of Sindh, Justice Jehan Zaib Rahim Acting Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court and Justice Amanullah Khan, Chief Justice of High Court of Balochistan as Presiding Officers for the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan respectively.
The Election Commission has completed printing of the ballot papers and finalized arrangements for the Saturday poll.
The contesting parties set a new example by not raising any objection to other candidates. The Election Commission rejected nomination papers of 28 candidates out of 33 for filing incomplete documents or for not fulfilling the requirements.
According to the counting procedure released by the Election Commission:
"(1) The Chief Election Commissioner shall determine the result
of the election in the following manner, namely:-
(a) the number of votes cast in the Majlis-e-Shoora
(Parliament) in favor of each candidate shall be counted;
(b) the number of votes cast in a Provincial Assembly in favor of each candidate shall be multiplied by the total number of seats in the Provincial Assembly for the time being having the smallest number of seats and divided by the total number of seats in the Provincial Assembly in which the votes have been cast; and
(c) the number of votes calculated in the manner referred to in clause (b) shall be added to the number of votes counted under clause (a).
Explanation:- In this paragraph, "total number of seats" includes seats reserved for non-Muslims and Women."-APP