Veteran Mukherjee to be sworn in as India president
INDIA: Former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was to be sworn as
India's president Wednesday, with expectations that the veteran
politician will breathe some fresh life into the largely ceremonial
post.
The official candidate of the Congress Party-led ruling coalition,
Mukherjee, 76, was elected president on Sunday after winning 69 percent
of the votes cast by national and state lawmakers.
Under the constitution, the prime minister wields most of the
executive power in India, but the president can send back some bills for
reconsideration and also plays a guiding role in the process of forming
governments.
This could be especially crucial in the next general election -- due
in 2014 -- which is expected to produce a fractured parliament that will
struggle to come up with a stable coalition government.
Mukherjee has a cross-party reputation as a skilled negotiator, and
was described by leaked US embassy cables in 2009 as “the ultimate
Congress Party fixer and operator”. AFP
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