On September 6, he won a sweeping victory in the presidential election - of the 702 deputies of the Electoral College, consisting of the members of the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies, 481 voted in his favor.
Zardari is a unique figure in Pakistan's political establishment. Born into a clan of big landowners, he became known not as an outstanding politician, but as the husband of Benazir Bhutto, one of the most popular female leaders in the history of Pakistan, who twice became its prime minister.
He also became known for being mired in controversy, primarily concerning charges of corruption when his wife was prime minister. These cases have now been closed, both by the former President Pervez Musharraf, and the Swiss bank that had suspicions about the couple's accounts.
There are some other important details about the new presidency. Zardari won after his predecessor Musharraf resigned rather than risk impeachment and the threat of a split in Pakistani society. Zardari won under extremely heavy pressure from the PPP's number one opponent and the late Bhutto's political rival Nawaz Sharif, a key player in Pakistan, who initiated the threat to impeach Musharraf, and wanted to become president himself. Now Sharif has left the coalition with Zardari, and become his tough opponent.
Will the 14th Pakistani president manage to prevent the country from sliding into another political crisis, which would be more than likely to end in a military dictatorship? The situation is far from easy for a number of reasons.
First, the ruling coalition, consisting of the PPP and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has fallen apart. Now much will depend on the conduct of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), (PML-Q), led by Musharraf. Will he side with Zardari or Sharif?
Second, Pakistan has been going through tough times in the last few years, although quite recently its GDP was growing at the impressive rate of 8.4%. Textiles and clothing, along with cotton and grain, account for two thirds of Pakistan's exports. Now the country has been hit by a severe food crisis, made worse by a huge shortage of energy. There are many reasons for the economic recession, but it was primarily caused by political instability last year.
The third and the most important point is Zardari's own conduct on the domestic political scene. Will he, like Musharraf, manage to balance the Islamic attitudes of certain sections of society and the need to honor commitments assumed by Pakistan in the struggle against international terrorism?
In an interview with the BBC on the eve of the elections, Zardari had already loudly announced his position by urging the world community to put the Pakistani Taliban on the world's list of banned military-political organizations. He said that the world was losing the war with militant Islam, and Pakistan to the Taliban.
This is a justified, albeit risky, step. During Musharraf's nine-year presidency, the United States gave Pakistan more than $20 billion to fight terrorism. Zardari apparently hopes to get at least as much. But it was this intractable problem that eventually cost Musharraf his position, and not only because he failed to resolve it, but because it cannot be resolved in today's Pakistan without massive political and social upheaval.
When Musharraf came to power nine years ago, he described Pakistan as an "insolvent terrorist state." At that time, it was difficult to draw a line between the Pakistani government and al-Qaeda, which had entrenched itself on the border with Afghanistan, not to mention the Taliban.
The United States shut its eyes to this until 9/11, when they needed Pakistan as a loyal ally in the struggle against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Musharraf accepted this mission.
Today, this problem has too many mutually exclusive elements. One example is the situation in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and its autonomies North and South Waziristan, which border on Afghanistan. The United States and the West in general believe that this is where al-Qaeda and Taliban militants have settled down. They may be right. But the trouble is that they have lived there for several decades, started families, and struck root. It is now difficult to distinguish between ordinary civilians and militants in the province, particularly in the autonomies. Therefore any air attack by the U.S.-led international coalition in Afghanistan against the bases of militants on this territory, not to mention an operation by the Pakistani army, is bound to fuel political instability in Islamabad and other major political centers.
Zardari's supporters called his victory "a victory of democracy." Such victories have already become traditional in Pakistan. So far, democracy has failed to stay in power for the constitutionally defined term. This will be the 14th attempt to do so. Is it possible the unconventional figure of the 14th president will help fulfill this task?
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
