The candidate named by slain Benazir Bhutto's party to be Pakistan's new premier, Yousuf Raza Gillani, told AFP Saturday that he wanted to work with all "democratic forces" in the country. Gillani, a former national assembly speaker, is a virtual certainty to be elected as prime minister on Monday by a parliament which is dominated by Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and its coalition allies.
The coalition, also including the party of former premier Nawaz Sharif, is headed for a showdown with President Pervez Musharraf after it swept parliamentary elections on February 18. "We have to take all democratic forces along. I will be giving a policy statement and spelling out my priorities on the floor of the house," Gillani told AFP in a telephone interview shortly after he was nominated.
"I am thankful to my party leadership for putting their trust in me," Gillani said, adding that he missed the party's "great leader" Bhutto, who was assassinated on December 27. Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari named Gillani as the candidate for prime minister in a statement on Saturday evening, ending more than a month of uncertainty and bickering within the party.
Gillani's comments came hours after the candidate proposed by Musharraf's parliamentary allies withdrew from the race for the premiership and promised his "unconditional support" for the PPP's candidate.