Pakistan’s lawmakers on Saturday elected Asif Ali Zardari as president of the country for the second time. Zardari is the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2013.

Zardari received 411 votes from national and provincial legislators. His opponent, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who has the backing of the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, had 181 votes.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial role in Pakistan, but Zardari is known as a conciliator. He could help the ruling coalition partners reach a consensus to put the shattered economy on a path to stabilization before seeking a new IMF bailout.

He is scheduled to take the oath of office on Sunday.

Coalition’s candidate

Zardari was favored to win as the joint candidate of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, or PML-N, the party of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his other political allies.

He has also played a key role in talks to form a coalition government after the disputed national parliamentary election on February 8.

Under that deal, Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took the presidency, while its historic rivals PML-N secured the prime minister’s position for Shehbaz Sharif, who was officially sworn in on Monday.

Sharif congratulated Zardari on becoming the country’s new president. Zardari “will be a symbol of the strength of the federation,” Sharif said in a statement.

Zardari’s rival, Achakzai, also congratulated him on his victory, saying the vote was free and fair.

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Zardari as well on his election, Chinese state media reported Sunday.

“In his message, Xi said China and Pakistan are good neighbors, good friends, good partners and good brothers, adding that the two countries’ iron-clad friendship is a choice of history and a precious treasure of the two peoples,” the Xinhua news agency said.

Xi addressed the two countries’ close ties, especially with regards to the construction of the China-Pakistan economic corridor, part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative.

In Bhutto’s shadow

Zardari was born in 1955 into a landowning family from the southern province of Sindh. It was his arranged marriage to PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in 1987 that catapulted him into the political limelight.

Bhutto was prime minister from 1988 to 1990, the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim country. She served again from 1993 to 1996. Bhutto was assassinated in 2007.

Initially a background figure as Bhutto’s husband, Zardari was tainted by a host of corruption and other allegations, including absurd kidnapping plots and the acceptance of kickbacks on hoards of jewelry.

He spent 11 years behind bars before becoming president in 2008, but was never convicted and has denied any wrongdoing. Zardari has also been arrested and charged with various offenses in recent years.

dh/mm (AP, AFP, Reuters)