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President Asif Ali Zardari has stepped down from his position as the president of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian (PPPP).
Zardari, who became the 14th President of Pakistan in March, informed the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) about his decision on Thursday, Express News reported.
A widower of two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Zardari secured his presidency after defeating Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a seasoned politician from Balochistan, and a candidate backed by the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council, a religiopolitical group that now encompasses members from the incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
As a candidate for the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Zardari holds the distinction of being the sole politician to serve as the country’s president for a second term.
During his previous presidency from 2008 to 2013, Zardari played a pivotal role in the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, a landmark legislation that devolved significant powers from the presidency to the Prime Minister and the Parliament.
Also read: Profile – Asif Ali Zardari: Pakistan’s new president
His tenure also marks a historic milestone as the first democratically elected president to complete a full term in Pakistan’s 75-year history.
Born in July 1955 into a prominent Sindhi landlord family, Zardari received his early education at Saint Patrick’s School in Karachi, the bustling commercial hub and capital of Sindh.
He pursued his higher education at Cadet College Pitaro, near Hyderabad, the second largest city in Sindh, before furthering his studies in business in London.
Initially indifferent to politics despite his father Hakim Ali Zardari’s involvement, Zardari’s life took a dramatic turn with his marriage to late Benazir Bhutto in 1987, marking his formal entry into the political arena.
The couple, who shared three children, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Bakhtawar, and Assefa, became a prominent force in Pakistani politics until Benazir’s tragic assassination in 2007.
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