3:31pm UK, Saturday September 06, 2008

The widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been elected president of Pakistan, officials have said.

 

Ms Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari

Partial results after separate votes in the federal and provincial assemblies showed that Asif Ali Zardari won an overwhelming majority of the votes.

Ms Bhutto, an ex-Pakistan prime minister, was killed in a suicide attack on December 27.

Pro-Zardari lawmakers, some in tears, shouted “Long live Bhutto”, as the results came in.

Mr Zardari becomes one of the most powerful civilian leaders in Pakistan’s turbulent 61-year history.

Last month, he led a coalition that forced longtime US ally Pervez Musharraf to quit as head of state.

Mr Zardari, a novice leader stained by past corruption allegations, takes over at a critical time for the volatile, nuclear-armed Muslim nation of more than 160 million.

Pakistan’s economy is crumbling and a deadly blast in Peshawar was the latest in a string of suicide bombings usually claimed by Islamic militants.

The militants have steadily gained strength since Pakistan joined the US war on terrorism in 2001.

Washington is pressing Pakistan hard to eradicate Taliban and al-Qaeda havens near its border with Afghanistan.

But an American-led ground attack said to have killed at least 15 in Pakistani territory Wednesday sparked outrage and embarrassed Mr Zardari’s party.

Mr Zardari, 53, was known as a polo-playing playboy in his younger days.

He spent 11 years in jail on corruption and other charges stemming from his time in government when his wife was prime minister in the 1990s.

But he was never convicted and said the charges were politically motivated.