Pakistan legislature to elect Gilani as new prime minister

Stephen Graham, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's legislature was set to elect Yousaf Raza Gilani, a longtime aide to the slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, as the new prime minister Monday.

Gilani, 55, has the experience and track record to hold together an unwieldy coalition as it moves to neutralize President Pervez Musharraf, whose government put Gilani in jail for years before a court ordered he be freed.

A pro-Musharraf party has nominated Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a die-hard supporter of the former army strongman. But Gilani is a shoo-in after opposition parties swept elections last month. Musharraf is expected to swear him in Tuesday.

"Mr. Gilani is a man who suffered from Musharraf's martial law," said Ahsan Iqbal, a legislator for one of four parties that agreed to form a new coalition government and are expected to elect him with a thumping majority.

"He understands well that getting rid of dictatorship is important."

Gilani will front an administration facing mounting economic problems, including double-digit inflation, power shortages and sagging foreign investment.

Western governments fearful of a resurgence of al-Qaida in Pakistan's ungoverned border region urgently want to know what changes the government will make to Musharraf's unpopular, military-led policies against Islamic extremism.

In a speech marking Pakistan's national day Sunday, Musharraf hailed the start of a "new era of real democracy" in Pakistan and promised to support the new cabinet.

"I hope the new government can maintain peace and the fast pace of socio-economic development in Pakistan," Musharraf said at a parade of jets and missiles from Pakistan's nuclear-capable arsenal.

"And I hope it will also continue our struggle against the curse of terrorism and extremism with the same force."

However, the declared priority for the parties that won the Feb. 18 parliamentary vote is bolstering Pakistan's return to democracy by capping Musharraf's already diminished powers.

"All political forces have to work together to take the country out of this crisis," Gilani said Sunday, promising to restore the independence of Pakistan's judges and media.

Asked whether he would work with Musharraf or push him from office, he said: "I will follow the constitution."

Observers say Gilani's record in office and treatment at the hands of Musharraf make him a good pick to straddle the rivalry and ideological differences inside a coalition that includes Islamists and Pashtun nationalists, as well as the country's main parties.

Gilani, who is from the Punjabi city Multan, has a master's degree in journalism but quickly followed his father into politics. He was a minister in Bhutto's 1988-1990 government and parliamentary speaker during her 1993-1996 term.

"He has also made sacrifices, which is a very major criteria within the People's party," Talat Masood, a retired general and prominent policy analyst, said of Gilani.

Shafqat Mahmood, a former politician turned newspaper commentator, said Pakistan's political course was clouded by the fate of Musharraf, who can expect little relief from Gilani.

"Musharraf kept him in jail for five years so, just on the basis of human psychology, I can't imagine him having any loving thoughts about Musharraf," Mahmood said.

© The Canadian Press, 2008