PPP soon to announce candidate for PM

ISLAMABAD Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will name its candidate for the post of prime minister at the weekend, a spokesman said Friday.President Pervez Musharraf has summoned the new parliament on Monday to elect a prime minister, which will clear the way for a coalition government hostile to him to start business."We will announce our candidate for prime minister on late Saturday or early Sunday," PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP.The names of the contesting candidates have to be filed before Sunday afternoon for Monday's vote, he added.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the successor as chairman of PPP, returned to Pakistan from London this week to personally announce the candidate.The PPP emerged as the largest party from general elections on February 18.Western governments are keenly observing the political scene in Pakistan, with a showdown looming between the new parliament and Musharraf, a frontline ally in the US-led "war on terror."The co-chairman of the party, Asif Ali Zardari, has held a series of meetings with legislators and coalition partners on the choice of prime minister but no clear front runner has emerged.The main contenders are former parliament speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani, ex-trade minister Ahmed Mukhtar, party president Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab province party chief Shah Mahmood Qureshi.Zardari himself is ineligible because he is not an MP, but insiders say he may run in a by-election in May to join parliament and possibly seek the premiership himself.