{"id":69269,"date":"2024-03-09T14:58:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T14:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/zardari-sweeps-balochistan-votes-achakzai-stumbles-in-presidential-race\/"},"modified":"2024-03-09T14:58:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T14:58:05","slug":"zardari-sweeps-balochistan-votes-achakzai-stumbles-in-presidential-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/zardari-sweeps-balochistan-votes-achakzai-stumbles-in-presidential-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Zardari Sweeps Balochistan Votes: Achakzai Stumbles in Presidential Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"m-media-w post-thumbnail e-p-t default\">\n<div class=\"thumb-w\"><\/div>\n<p>CM Balochistan, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti casting his vote during the presidential elections: Photo provided by DGPR <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-role=\"article_content\">\n<p><strong>Syed Ali Shah:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>QUETTA:<\/strong> In a widely anticipated outcome, President-designate Asif Ali Zardari secured a commanding 47 votes from the Balochistan Assembly on Saturday, solidifying his position as the favored candidate. Mehmood Achakzai, leader of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and nominee of the Sunni Ittehad Council, failed to garner a single vote.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers representing the ruling coalition, including the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Awami National Party (ANP), and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), threw their weight behind the former president and influential PPP figure.<\/p>\n<h2>NP Backs President Zardari Amidst Backdrop Of Poll Allegations<\/h2>\n<p>Even amidst the backdrop of allegations of electoral irregularities, the National Party (NP), a crucial component of the four-party alliance formed in opposition to purported poll rigging, surprisingly threw its support behind Zardari\u2019s candidacy. Notably, Jamiat ul Ulema e Islam (JUI) opted for abstention, in line with the decision of party chief Maulana Fazal ur Rehman.<\/p>\n<p>Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, the Chief Minister of Balochistan, heralded Zardari\u2019s sweeping victory, declaring, \u201cPresident Zardari secured unanimous support from Balochistan.\u201d With PPP and PML N jointly holding 37 seats in the 65-member Balochistan Assembly, Zardari\u2019s triumph was virtually assured.<\/p>\n<h2>Achakzai Failed To Secure A Single Vote<\/h2>\n<p>The absence of any polling agent for Mehmood Achakzai underscored his failure to gain traction among lawmakers. \u201cI sought to observe the proceedings, but the assembly secretariat denied me access,\u201d lamented Abdul Qahar Wadan, PKMAP\u2019s provincial president, casting aspersions on the assembly staff and Pakistan\u2019s Election Commission for alleged constitutional violations.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst stringent security measures enforced by the Quetta district administration to forestall any potential unrest, the voting process proceeded without incident, maintaining the region\u2019s law and order.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Revised Conclusion:<\/strong><br \/>The presidential election in Balochistan not only underscored Zardari\u2019s political clout but also illuminated the challenges facing opposition figures like Achakzai in the region. As Zardari\u2019s victory reverberates across the political landscape, it sets the stage for his impending ascension to the presidency with Balochistan firmly in his corner.<\/p>\n<p><!-- AI CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CM Balochistan, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti casting his vote during the presidential elections: Photo provided by DGPR Syed Ali Shah:\u00a0 QUETTA: In a widely anticipated outcome, President-designate Asif Ali Zardari secured a commanding 47 votes from the Balochistan Assembly on Saturday, solidifying his position as the favored candidate. Mehmood Achakzai, leader of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.quettavoice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bugti-w-e1709996011683.jpg?resize=637,432&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quetta-zila-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}