Co-Chairman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari
Wednesday said he would not become Prime Minister of Pakistan,
local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Zardari said that the
PPP held a central executive committee meeting on Wednesday and the
meeting decided he would not be the prime ministerial
candidate.
Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, casts his ballot inside a polling
station in Nawabshah, 320 km (200 miles) from Karachi, February 18,
2008.? (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
Zardari also demanded the release of judges and lawyers who were
deposed after President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of
emergency on November 3 last year.
Zardari disclosed that the PPP would want to form a coalition
government with the Mutahida Qaumi Movement.
The general elections of Pakistan were held on February 18.
Initial results showed that PPP had won the largest number of
National Assembly seats, which made it entitled to form the next
government.
The PPP has ruled out the possibility of cooperation with the
former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, saying they are
in contact with other parties mainly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz,
on the formation of government.
Zardari said the media played an important role in the country
and should be given more freedom.
Zardari and Bhutto's 19-year-old son Bilawal was named the
Chairman of PPP following the assassination of the former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27. Bilawal is
currently studying at Oxford while his father, as PPP Co-Chairman,
is looking after the party affairs till he completes his
education.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2008)
