73 year old Mammoon Hussain, a close friend of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been elected the 12th President of the country. He was born in India and is a businessman like Sharif. He trounced his opponent in a one-sided contest, ex-judge Wajihuddin Ahmed. Lawmakers from both the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies voted for the top post. According to unofficial sources, 277 votes were cast in favour of Mammoon, 14 votes ahead of the target. The Pakistan People’s Party had withdrawn its candidate and boycotted the election protesting against the change of poll dates under the Supreme Court’s direction. It was of course a symbolic gesture.
Mammoon Hussain belongs to an Urdu speaking ethnic group that migrated from India during the partition of 1947. He has resigned from the PML-N party soon after the election results were announced. Like in India, the President of Pakistan has to be a non-party person as Mammoon’s resignation from the PML-N signified. But it does not matter very much. The Pakistan President and Prime Minister had always worked in tandem. Asif Ali Zardari and his Prime Ministers always stood for the PPP in Pakistan politics. Besides, the new President is not only close to Nawaz Sharif but also, like him, a representative of the country’s business interests. His having been born in India is not likely to improve India-Pakistan relations, as he was just a child when he migrated to Pakistan. His role cannot be compared to that of Nepal’s President, Ram Baran Yadav who is of Indian origin. In the present political scene, he is unlikely to wield much influence unlike Zardari did because of his Bhutto connection.