PAKISTAN:ASIF ALI Zardari will be elected president of Pakistan today, triggering a frenzy of controversy over his "Mr 10 per cent" image and his outspoken support for Washington's war on terror.
The country's traditional power brokers - the military, the bureaucracy and the business elite - are aghast at the prospect of the elevation of the spouse of the assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Mr Zardari will have his finger on the nuclear button, possess the authority to fire and appoint the all-important army chief, and the power to summarily dismiss the government.
Crucially for Nato, the president is also in charge of Pakistan's tribal territory, the border area with Afghanistan that is used as a safe haven by Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
"Mr Zardari is probably not yet ready for the role of non-political head of the federation. He's too partisan. Or perhaps, the people are not ready for him," said Shaheen Sehbai, editor of the News, a Pakistani daily. "He was considered a negative influence even by his own wife."
It will be an extraordinary transformation - from vilified husband of Benazir Bhutto, accused of a long list of crimes including corruption, extortion and murder, to world statesman.
Pervez Musharraf, ousted as president last month, grabbed enormous powers for the presidency and, though Mr Zardari's party has pledged to cut them back, the force of the new president's personality means that he will dominate Pakistani politics.
Mr Zardari has constructed alliances with other parties that mean his opponents, Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, the candidate put up by his former coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif's party, and Mushahid Hussain, a contender from Musharraf's old party, will be easily defeated.
"The middle class and the elite both have a distaste for this man [Zardari] despite the fact that he's never been convicted of anything," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst. "He is guilty in the court of public opinion . . . If there was a direct election, there's no question that Zardari would come in last."
Mr Zardari insists that outside the chattering classes, he is popular. His party is also keen to stress that he is a substantial politician, having previously served as a member of parliament and twice as a minister. "He's a tried and tested politician, not only at the grass roots level, but in terms of ideas and strategy," said Farahnaz Ispahani, a Zardari aide and member of parliament.
Mr Zardari fell out bitterly with coalition partner Mr Sharif over the issue of the judiciary, but outmanoeuvred the twice ex-prime minister. A further clash with Mr Sharif, who runs the powerful province of the Punjab, looks inevitable, a re-run of the confrontation between Islamabad and the richest province that caused massive instability in the 1990s.
Mainstream Pakistan is resolutely moderate but the western concept of the anti-terror fight is deeply unpopular. Mr Zardari wrote in the Washington Post this week: "We stand with the United States, Britain, Spain and others who have been attacked. Fundamentally, however, the war we are fighting is our war. This battle is for Pakistan's soul."
Revelations of Mr Zardari's contacts with the Bush administration seem to confirm that he is highly rated in the White House. - (Guardian service)