Deals not set on stone, may change: Zardari ( Our Next President! )

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Deals not set on stone, may change: Zardari
Updated at: 0212 PST, Sunday, August 24, 2008
KARACHI: Co-Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Asif Ali Zardari, has agreed early Sunday to run for the presidency of Pakistan, said his Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The announcement was made by a party official, a day after Mr Zardari's nomination by the PPP, the biggest party in the coalition government.

Parliament will vote next month to choose a successor to President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned earlier.

Mr Zardari became PPP leader after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December.

The parliamentary and provincial assembly elections to replace Mr Musharraf, who quit in the face of the threat of impeachment by his political enemies, will take place on 6 September.

There will be plenty of political horse-trading, but Mr Zardari is clearly the favourite to win, said a foreign media officals.

But his decision to accept the nomination is not without controversy and could lead to the collapse of the PPP's coalition, our correspondent adds.

Asif Ali Zardari's main coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N, has said he is not in favour of Zardari getting the job and prefers what he calls a consensus president.

The two men are also deadlocked over how many of the judges sacked by Musharraf during emergency rule last November should be reinstated.

Asif Zardari is worried the deposed chief justice might seek to overturn an amnesty on corruption charges, which allowed Zardari and Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan, our correspondent adds.

The latest political developments come against a backdrop of increasing violence.

Pakistani troops say they killed 35 militants in fighting in the Swat Valley, north-west of Islamabad, on Saturday, shortly after a suicide bomber killed eight policemen.

http://geo.tv/8-24-2008/23363.htm



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