(22 Mar 2008) SHOTLIST
22 March 2008
1. Wide of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar announcing PM nominee
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Farhatullah Babar, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesman, reading statement from Asif Ali Zardari:
"Consensus has been achieved in nominating the candidate for the office of Prime Minister. I have great pleasure in calling upon Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gilani, in the name of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to accept the heavy responsibility and lead the coalition government and the nation to greater heights and glory."
3. Cutaway, Babar through camera viewfinder.
4. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Farhatullah Babar, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesman
"I don't want to comment on this (question from reporter on why PPP vice chair Makhdoom Amin Fahim didn't attend Saturdays meeting). The consultations took place within the party and among the coalition partners, and also was discussed with the chairman Bilawal Bhutto and the name was finalised a few days back and the decision was made."
5. Pulls out to wide and Babar holding up Zardari statement
17 March 2008
6. Exterior parliament
7. Pakistan People's Party nominee for Prime Minister, Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gilani talking to media
8. Wide of assembled media and crowd
STORYLINE:
Yousaf Raza Gilani, a former parliament speaker and aide to slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, was nominated on Saturday as the parliamentary majority's choice to be Pakistan's next prime minister.
Gilani was a close aide to Bhutto and spent four years in jail on allegations he abused his authority as speaker under Bhutto's second term in the 1990s.
His convictions were overturned and he was freed in 2005.
Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar announced Gilani's nomination at a news conference on Saturday night in Islamabad.
"Consensus has been achieved in nominating the candidate for the office of Prime Minister. I have great pleasure in calling upon Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gilani, in the name of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to accept the heavy responsibility and lead the coalition government and the nation to greater heights and glory," said Babar, reading a statement from Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
The naming of a premiership candidate was stalled for weeks, fuelling speculation that Bhutto's widower Zardari, wanted the job for himself.
He now shares control of the party with their 19-year-old son.
Zardari cannot become premier because he did not run for a parliamentary seat in the February 18 elections.
But he could contest a by-election and win a seat to qualify as early as this summer.
In that case, Gilani would be a stand-in until Zardari could run.
Regardless, Gilani's nomination was a clear snub to PPP vice chair Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was long presumed the front-runner after leading Bhutto's party during her nearly eight years in exile.
Asked by a reporter why Fahim didn't attend earlier meetings to decide on the nomination, Babar didn't want to comment, only saying "the consultations took place within the party and among the coalition partners, and also was discussed with the chairman Bilawal Bhutto and the name was finalised a few days back and the decision was made."
The new administration will be led by the parties of Bhutto and another ex-premier, Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in Musharraf's 1999 coup.
A confrontation still looms between Musharraf and Sharif, who has been one of the most vocal of those calling for the unpopular president's resignation or impeachment.
The president's followers do not hold enough seats to prevent Gilani from taking office.
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