Pakistani Lawmakers Elect Hussain As President

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Pakistan's Election Commission says Mamnoon Hussain has been elected as the country's next president.

Lawmakers from both houses of the national parliament and four provincial assemblies voted Hussain into the largely ceremonial post.

The head of the Election Commission, Fakhruddin Ibrahim, announced on July 30 that Hussain, the nominee of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), had secured 432 electoral votes.

Hussain, a 73-year-old businessman from Karachi, had been favored due to the Muslim League's control of parliament.

Hussain's only rival, Wajihuddin Ahmed, the candidate from Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party, received 77 votes.

The election was boycotted by outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party to protest a Supreme Court ruling that advanced the voting day by a week.

Zardari's five-year term ends in September.

Hussain briefly served as governor of Sindh Province in 1999.


Based on reporting by AP and dpa