ISLAMABAD: President-elect Mamnoon Hussain took oath of office on Monday as the 12th head of state. The oath was administered by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at a ceremony held at the Presidency in the federal capital.

It was a rare event as former president Asif Ali Zardari, who stayed in the Presidency for five years until Sunday, also attended the ceremony along with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, members of the federal cabinet and heads of parliamentary parties.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari watched as Hussain took oath, wearing a black hat in the style of Pakistan’s founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The 73-year-old Hussain was elected on July 30 by members of the four provincial assemblies and the federal parliament. Hussain, a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) which swept the May 11 general elections, received a clear majority of votes against Justice (retd) Wajihuddin, the presidential nominee of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI).

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had boycotted the election.

A close ally of Sharif, Hussain’s low-key persona and lack of a political powerbase of his own will put him in stark contrast to Zardari.

Zardari completed his presidential tenure on Sunday, becoming the first elected president in Pakistan’s history to complete his five-year term.

Even though the PPP had boycotted the presidential poll, Mamnoon Hussain was felicitated by Zardari who wished him well in the discharge of his responsibilities as the head of the federation.

Hussain is a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and was briefly governor of Sindh province until Sharif's second administration was deposed by the military.