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Bilawal to Announce New Prime Minister

By admin | March 20, 2008

The 19-year-old son of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan to announce his party’s nomination for the post of prime minister.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is a student in the U.K., flew home yesterday and will probably make the announcement early next week, said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the Pakistan Peoples Party.

The PPP is trying to form a coalition government with other opposition parties to challenge President Pervez Musharraf. Its nomination for the post of premier must be approved by the newly elected National Assembly.

Zardari’s father and co-chairman of the party, Asif Ali Zardari, summoned his son in an effort to heal a rift within the PPP over who should become prime minister, said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a political scientist at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who led the PPP for seven years while Bhutto was in exile, is seeking nomination. According to Pakistani media reports, he may break away from the party with his supporters if sidelined.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will use his symbolic appeal as the surviving son of the Bhutto dynasty, which founded the PPP, to “ask Fahim to stay in the party and reconcile,” said Rais.

Coalition Government

The PPP and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz reached an agreement on March 9 to form a coalition government after they defeated the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid- i-Azam party, which is backed by Musharraf, in the Feb. 18 vote.

The coalition, which also includes the Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, is just short of the two-thirds majority needed to oust Musharraf. It aims to reduce the powers of the president, including his authority to dismiss Parliament.

Asif Ali Zardari indicated after the election that Fahim would win the nomination. Other lawmakers in the alliance voiced opposition, saying Fahim may cooperate too closely with Musharraf.

PPP officials say Asif Ali Zardari is considering taking the post for himself. Fahim told reporters yesterday he wouldn’t step aside for any other candidate than the elder Zardari.

Between Fahim and the Bhutto clan, both from rural Sindh province, “there are family ties of honor and loyalty and respect,” Rais said. As the son of Fahim’s former leader, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will play on those traditional values in appealing to him, he said.

Special Election

To be eligible for the post of prime minister, Asif Ali Zardari must first be elected to Parliament. He could do that in a special election that must be held in his wife’s former constituency in Sindh province, where voting was postponed after she was assassinated in December.

The elder Zardari is considering at least three party leaders from Punjab province for the post, according to Pakistani media reports. Among them is Yousuf Raza Gilani, a party vice-chairman who spent five years in jail for alleged corruption.

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