A former parliament speaker and aide to murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was nominated today as the parliamentary majority's choice to be Pakistan's next prime minister.
Yousaf Raza Gilani spent four years in jail on allegations he abused his authority as speaker during Ms 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 heavily defeated President Pervez Musharraf's allies in last month's elections, announced Mr Gilani's nomination at a news conference tonight in Islamabad.
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"Yousaf Raza Gilani is not afraid to lead and he knows the way," said PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, reading a statement from Ms Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
The naming of a premiership candidate was stalled for weeks, fuelling speculation that Mr Zardari wanted the job for himself. He now shares control of the party with their 19-year-old son.
Mr Zardari cannot become premier because he did not run for a parliamentary seat in the February 18 elections. But he could contest a by-election and win a seat to qualify as early as this summer.
In that case, Mr Gilani would be a stand-in until Mr Zardari could run.
Regardless, Mr Gilani's nomination was a clear snub to PPP vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was long presumed the front-runner after leading Ms Bhutto's party during her nearly eight years in exile.
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