• MARCH 24, 2008

Gilani to Become Pakistan Premier

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The party of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto named veteran politician Yousuf Raza Gilani its candidate to be Pakistan's next prime minister Saturday.

Mr. Gilani will be voted in Monday by the newly installed lower house of Parliament.

The 55-year-old former National Assembly speaker belongs to an influential landowning family in Punjab, Pakistan's biggest province. Under President Pervez Musharraf's military-led government, Mr. Gilani spent more than five years in prison on corruption and other charges, which his party said were politically motivated. He has denied wrongdoing.

Mr. Gilani is known as a pro-Western moderate ...

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