Pakistan on Tuesday elected businessman Mamnoon Hussain as its 12th president, state TV said, to replace deeply unpopular head of state Asif Ali Zardari, whose five-year term expires in September.
Lawmakers from both houses of the national parliament and four provincial assemblies voted in the two-man race for the largely ceremonial president.
In a sharp reminder of the challenges the country faces, dozens of heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a prison in the northwest overnight, escaping with more than 240 prisoners.