Now there are three front-runners for premiership One of them was veteran politician Makhdoom Amin Fahim, 68, a long-time Bhutto loyalist from Sindh province who turned down an offer of the premiership by Musharraf in 2002, said officials and political analysts.
Other possible nominees include Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a top PPP figure from Punjab, and former National Assembly speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani, party officials and analysts said.
Shafqat Mahmood, a prominent political commentator and former PPP spokesman, said Fahim was the favourite in part because the party wanted a prime minister from Sindh, the Bhutto family stronghold. Both Qureshi and Gilani are from Punjab. Fahim 'is a consensus builder', Mahmood said. "He would be good in a coalition and in papering over differences."
Fahim, a mild-mannered figure, served as the go-between for Musharraf and Bhutto during her eight years in exile. Fahim turned down the prime minister's post five years ago because Musharraf wanted him to cut his ties to the Bhutto family.