Pakistan ruling party nominates Makhdoom Shahabuddin for new PM

The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has nominated senior leader Makhdoom Shahabuddin for the post of premier following the Supreme Court's disqualification of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, according to a media report on Wednesday. The decision was made at a meeting of senior PPP leaders chaired early on Wednesday morning by President Asif Ali Zardari, according to Pakistan's Geo News channel. The meeting further decided to convene a session of the National Assembly or lower house of parliament on Thursday to formally elect the new leader of the House, the report said. There was no official word on the development from the PPP or the presidency. The move came in the wake of two separate meetings of the PPP's central executive committee and the leaders of the ruling coalition led by the PPP. The meeting also decided that the National Assembly session would be summoned on Thursday for the election of the leader of the house, sources added. Earlier, sources said that former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had expressed reservations over the name of Shahabuddin during the meeting of coalition partners. Coalition partners entrusted President Asif Ali Zardari to nominate new prime minister. The sources further said Zardari had ruled out the option of calling an early general election following Gilani's disqualification.