It is unfortunate, if inevitable, that Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s widower, has decided that he should be president of Pakistan. The most likely outcome is that he will, capitalising on the popularity of his late wife to secure the votes he needs in Parliament.

But this is no recipe for peace. He has Bhutto’s worst qualities: a reputation for failing to distinguish between government interests and his own, and an indifference to constitutional checks on power. He lacks her best: charisma (and her surname), strength and an ability to articulate a modern future for Pakistan, particularly its women.

New reports that his doctors claimed last year that mental and physical illness should spare him from corruption charges do nothing to shore up the doubts that he is fit to run this complicated and fragile country — although his supporters say he has recovered. What is more, the Army cannot stand him. He also does not want to reinstate the judges whom President Musharraf sacked in case they resurrect old charges against him. Most worrying, he is suddenly evasive about whether he would, as president, relinquish the powers that Musharraf had given the presidency — crucially, the ability to dissolve Parliament.

Zardari, head of the Pakistan People’s Party, the left-wing party with the most seats in Parliament, is one of three candidates jostling to be president. The others are Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, a former judge who has been put forward by Nawaz Sharif, twice Prime Minister himself and head of the powerful conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N). With the force of Sharif behind him he is a serious candidate, even at 71.

The third candidate is Mushahid Hussain Sayed, backed by the branch of the Pakistan Muslim League that followed Musharraf. He stands almost no chance now that Musharraf has gone.

Sharif’s exit from the coalition Government on Monday was no surprise; he and Zardari had failed to agree on who should be president and on the judges (where Sharif is right to insist on their return). The two houses of Parliament, plus the provincial assemblies, will now pick the president, and the strength of the PPP in Parliament, although less so in the provinces, gives Zardari the edge over Siddiqui. The best that can be said about the prolonged drama is that Pakistan now has an elected Government, and it is still working within its Constitution.

The most attractive aspect of Bhutto was her party, created by her father. For all its obsessive devotion to the clan of Bhutto, it was also a forceful voice for the poor and a counterweight to the entrenched interests of the Muslim League, which had historic ties to the Army and roots in the commercial captains of the Punjab. That is still the best reason for backing any leader of the PPP.

Zardari is not Bhutto’s match. His nickname of “Mr Ten Per Cent” has stuck at home, even though Musharraf gave him an amnesty against corruption charges and they have been dropped in foreign courts. Zardari denies any wrongdoing. Court documents from his doctors, citing mental and physical afflictions from his years in prison fighting such charges, are disturbing. They were either exaggerated as a defence, or they portray a man so troubled that it is hard to believe in a full recovery.

Zardari leads a good party, which will play a crucial role in any stable future for Pakistan. If he does become president he should show that he respects the Constitution, restore judges and trim the powers of the presidency. Without that he will deserve the condemnation — and turmoil — that will follow.

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