Ali Zardari was the sole candidate of Pakistan's ruling coalition, which includes his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's PPP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, as well as the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party and the Balochistan Awami Party.
He defeated opposition candidate Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who was backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Achakzai received only 181 votes and a majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly.
On March 4, Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the PML-N party, took the oath to serve his second term as Pakistan's prime minister at the presidential residence in Islamabad. His candidacy obtained 201 votes, while his opponent, the secretary general of Imran Khan's PTI party, Omar Ayub Khan, received only 92 votes.
Ali Zardari's first term lasted from 2008 to 2013 and ended on September 8, after the former president refused to participate in the next election due to the PPP's defeat in the general election at the time.