Islamabad: Yousuf Raza Gilani, a former parliament speaker and aide to slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, was nominated on Saturday as the parliamentary majority's choice to be Pakistan's next prime minister.
Gilani spent four years in jail on allegations he abused his authority as speaker during Bhutto's second term as prime minister in the 1990s. He was never convicted, and was freed in 2005.
A spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which routed President Pervez Musharraf's allies in last month's elections, announced Gilani's nomination at a news conference last night in Islamabad.
"Yousuf Raza Gilani is not afraid to lead and he knows the way," said PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, reading a statement from Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
The naming of a premiership candidate was stalled for weeks, fuelling speculation that Zardari wanted the job for himself. He now shares control of the party with their 19-year-old son.
Zardari cannot become premier because he did not run for a parliamentary seat in February 18 elections. But he could contest a by-election and win a seat to qualify as early as this summer.
In that case, Gilani would be a stand-in until Zardari could run.
Regardless, Gilani's nomination was a clear snub to PPP vice chair Makhdoom Ameen Fahim, who was long presumed the front-runner after leading Bhutto's party during her nearly eight years in exile. "I have the best wishes for him," Fahim said just after Gilani's name was announced.
Fahim said he would not quit the party. "I pray for the success of Makhdoom Yousaf Raza," he said, using an honorific title.
The battle for prime minister has strained party unity, even before it forms a coalition government that will face massive challenges including a wave of militancy, high inflation and electricity shortages.
The new administration will be led by the parties of Bhutto and another ex-premier, Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in Musharraf's 1999 coup. A confrontation still looms between Mush-arraf and Sharif, who has been one of the most vocal in calling for the unpopular president's resignation or impeachment.
A confirmation vote is scheduled for tomorrow in parliament, and the prime minister would be sworn in by Musharraf a day later.
Gilani will likely face an opposition candidate from Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q, after a disagreement between the country's two main pro-Musharraf parties about whether to field a candidate at all.
History: Served as speaker
Yousuf Raza Gilani, a stalwart of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), is the vice chairman of the party.
Gilani, who hails from Multan city in Punjab province, served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 1993-96 during the last government of Benazir Bhutto and served as federal minister during Bhutto's stint from 1988-90.
He belongs to the well-respected Muslim Gilani family.
- By Ashfaq Ahmed Chief Reporter
