Source: AFP

ISLAMABAD — Slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s party was due Saturday to announce the name of its candidate for prime minister, as a nominee of President Pervez Musharraf’s allies quit the race.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Bhutto’s 19-year-old son and successor as chairman of her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), will announce the name, party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

“The name of the candidate has been finalised and the announcement will be made around 8:00pm (1500 GMT),” Babar told AFP.

The new parliament is to meet on Monday to elect the prime minister, who is to be sworn in by Musharraf on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi said.

And in a dramatic development, the president’s political ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said it had decided to withdraw its candidate as a “gesture of goodwill,” indicating that the new premier could be elected unopposed.

“We have decided to extend unconditional support to the PPP nominee,” Farooq Sattar, the candidate of the Karachi-based MQM, told AFP by telephone.

The decision to withdraw was taken after PPP co-chairman and Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari held talks with MQM leader Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in London, Sattar said.

“It is not for greed or lust for power, it is in the larger interest of the country, for the stability of the country and for political harmony,” he said.

Sattar, who met leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) which backs Musharraf, later confirmed that he was quitting the race at a news conference.

He said the PML-Q has “endorsed” the MQM decision.

Senior PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi said his party would decide later whether or not to put up its own candidate.

“The nomination papers have to be filed on Sunday and a decision would be taken later today,” he added.

PPP spokesman Babar hailed the MQM support as “a positive development.”

“Since Farooq Sattar was the lone contestant from Musharraf’s allies, there is a possibility that our candidate may be elected uncontested,” he said without revealing the party’s choice.

The PPP emerged as the largest party from general elections on February 18 but has struggled to settle on a candidate amid a power vacuum left by the charismatic Bhutto’s assassination in December.

Zardari has held a series of meetings with legislators and coalition partners on the choice of prime minister but no clear frontrunner has emerged.

The main contenders were former parliament speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani, ex-trade minister Ahmed Mukhtar, party president Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab province party chief Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Local media reports indicate Gilani might be named PPP candidate but party officials remain tight lipped.

Zardari himself is ineligible because he is not an MP, but insiders say he may run in a by-election in May to join parliament and possibly seek the premiership.

The PPP and former premier Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-N finished second in the election, signed a formal declaration in the northern hill resort of Bhurban on March 9 to form a coalition government along with smaller groups after Musharraf’s allies were routed.

Western governments are keenly observing the political scene in Pakistan, with a showdown looming between the new parliament and Musharraf, a frontline ally in the US-led “war on terror.”

Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999, has been further weakened by his resignation as army chief in November last year.

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Tags: Benazir Bhutto's party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Farhatullah Babar, new parliament, opposition leader, party spokesman, PPP, President Pervez Musharraf's allies