Asif Ali Zardari

The President of Pakistan is Head of State of Pakistan. Pakistan has a semi-presidential system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by an electoral college to serve a five-year term. The electoral college is comprised of the Senate, National Assembly and the provincial assemblies. The President may be elected but may not serve for more than two consecutive terms. The president may also be impeached and subsequently removed from office by a two-thirds vote by the Parliament. The President must also be a Muslim. The position of President in Pakistan has traditionally been one of a figurehead, with actual powers lying with the prime minister. However, at various times in history, changes in the Constitution of Pakistan have altered the powers and privileges associated with the office of the President. The current constitution gives the President reserve powers - subject to Supreme Court approval or veto - to dissolve the National Assembly of Pakistan, triggering new elections, and thereby to dismiss the Prime Minister. The President also chairs the National Security Council and appoints the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force. History In 1947, Pakistan became a dominion within the British Commonwealth with the British Monarch as head of state, represented by the Governor-General of Pakistan. In 1956 Pakistan established its first constitution and became a Republic, and the positions of Queen and Governor-General were replaced by the President. Pakistan's first president was Iskander Mirza, who was also the last Governor General. In 1958, he abrogated the constitution and declared martial law. A few weeks later, he was overthrown in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who had declared himself president. The constitution was revised, and the president became the ruler of Pakistan. The constitution also stipulated that the president be elected by the people. Elections were held in 1963, and Khan defeated Fatima Jinnah, sister of founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Ayub Khan continued as president until March 25, 1969, when he passed the presidency to Yahya Khan. Yahya Khan stepped down after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became the new president and presided over the formation of a new constitution. This constitution was completed in 1973, and reduced the presidency to a figurehead position, giving power to the Prime Minister. Bhutto stepped down as President and became Prime Minister, symbolizing the transition. The President was henceforth elected by legislative assembly members, not by popular vote. Popular vote would be used to directly elect the members of the National Assembly, including the Prime Minister. In 1978, Prime Minister Bhutto was toppled by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who declared himself President. The presidency again became the premier position in the Pakistani government. Zia introduced the Eighth Amendment, which gave reserve powers to the President's office. Zia died in 1988 and the Prime Minister's office regained leadership of the country. The Presidency retained its reserve powers until 1997, when the Thirteenth Amendment was passed. However, the 1999 coup of General Pervez Musharraf (Retd) brought executive powers back to the President's office. National and provincial elections were held in 2002. In December 2003, the Seventeenth Amendment partially restored the President's reserve powers, but made the exercise of those powers subject to Supreme Court approval or veto within 30 days. In January 2004, the Electoral College gave Musharraf a vote of confidence, as result of which he was (according to the Constitution) "deemed to be elected". Musharraf's term of office as President is set to end in 2007. Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is the 14th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Zardari is the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who twice served as Prime Minister of Pakistan. When his wife was assassinated in December 2007, he became the leader of the Pakistan People''s Party. He is one of the richest men in Pakistan with an estimated net worth of US$1.8 billion (2005). Asif Zardari belongs to a Sindhi speaking Muslim family from the town of Nawabshah in Sindh. He is the son of Hakim Ali Zardari, a Pakistani Feudal Lord, a politician in Pakistani Politics since the 1970s and the leader of the Zardari Clan. Asif acquired his high school education from the Cadet College, Petaro. However, while a candidate for parliament, a position for which a 2002 rule requires a college degree, Zardari claimed to have graduated from a college in London. Asif once served as a member of the National Assembly, and he was at one point the Minister of Environment during his wife''s second term as the Prime Minister (1993-1996). Initially he was very interested in the Finance Ministry, but Bhutto opted to put him in a non-revenue generating department instead. During his time as the Environment Minister, he claimed in a televised news conference on STN that every school in Pakistan had had an Environment & Forestry department which had motivated every student to plant one tree. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on 27 December 2007, shortly after returning to Pakistan from exile. On 30 December 2007, Asif Ali Zardari became the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is currently studying at Oxford. Zardari was sworn in by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar in a ceremony at the presidential palace on September 9, 2008. He addressed the parliament for the first time on September 20, 2008, but the event was overshadowed by the suicide bomb blast which destroyed the Marriott Hotel, Islamabad. Zardari picked China for first state visit after being elected in September, though he went to the United States last month to attend the U.N. General Assembly. With the election of Asif Ali Zardari, the balance shifts heavily in favor of the president, thus compromising the spirit of parliamentary democracy. President Zardari’s position as the co-chairman of the ruling party makes him a kind of super prime minister. Furthermore, the judges deposed on November 2, 2007 by President Musharraf have not been restored and so the superior judiciary comes under the influence of the newly elected president.