ISLAMABAD - PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has completed his first year in Presidency enjoying powers even more than the former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf but at the same time faced with even greater challenges of security, economy and politics. There is no drawing a parallel between the incumbent and the former President, however Zardaris critics say he has been following in the footsteps of his predecessors realpolitick throughout the year. While there is no match to the power in uniform that General Musharraf used to exercise during his tenure both as the President and the Chief of Army Staff, President Zardari wields even more power as the de facto head of the ruling party. Though the President vowed to surrender presidential powers inherited from General Musharraf to the Parliament making it a supreme institution of the state, in practice the ruling PPP has maintained a snails pace on amending the Constitution in order to put it right. Meanwhile certain mouthpieces of the Presidency keep pronouncing that the President is part of the Parliament in responsive to scathing criticism by the Opposition that Zardari has been undermining parliamentary sovereignty. Even though the media kept on highlighting even minor frictions between the President and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, at the end of the day the ruling PPP managed to brush such conspiracy theories under the carpet. Some PPP insiders believe that the Presidency pressured the government to go slow on the Constitutional reforms since the existing balance of power is overwhelmingly in favour of the President as against the Prime Minister. They also claim that the primary deal between the then dictator General Musharraf and former Prime Minister in exile late Benazir Bhutto, that the PPP later on had acknowledged as essential to pave the restoration of democracy, contained covenants protecting both Musharraf and the Constitutional Amendments during his regime. Therefore, the sources believe that neither the PPP government could dare try Musharraf nor could it change the Constitution as part of the deal. Independent observers, however, acknowledged that President Zardari has excelled in performing what is called power politics that is, to retain the powers one possesses. They mentioned the turning popular opinion, one way or another, against the Taliban across the country as one of the landmark achievements on part of the Zardari Administration. Secondly, they also appreciate Zardaris accommodative and forthcoming style of keeping in with both the coalition and the opposition parties ranging from MQM to PML-N. Despite all these successes, they pointed out that the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani suffered from impotency and is faced with a series of crises starting from energy to food. The performance of the chief executive of the government Prime Minister Gillani would be compromised when he would be denied the powers the Parliamentary system entrusts upon him.