PAKISTAN:ASIF ALI Zardari, husband of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, last night came a step closer to becoming Pakistan's next president after the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) nominated him for the position vacated by Pervez Musharraf.
The PPP's central executive committee came to the decision after a five-hour meeting in Islamabad.
Sherry Rehman, information minister, told reporters in Islamabad: "Zardari thanked the Pakistan People's Party, of which he is the co-chairman, and will announce his decision within the next 24 hours."
The presidential race will take place on September 6th.
Under Pakistan's constitution a new president is elected by members of the country's four provincial assemblies and the national parliament within 30 days of the post becoming vacant.
Mr Musharraf resigned as president on August 18th to avoid facing likely proceedings in parliament to impeach him.
Earlier this week, Pakistan's second-largest opposition party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, had decided to back Mr Zardari.
Yesterday the provincial assembly of the southern Sindh province passed a resolution in support of his candidacy.
However, differences over restoring judges dismissed by Mr Musharraf last night remained a divisive matter for the ruling alliance.
Mr Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the main coalition partner, have discussed the issue of the judges for the past week without an agreement.
A cabinet minister said the PML-N was likely to introduce the issue of restoring judges when parliament met on Monday, first for discussion and then a parliamentary resolution to vote on the issue.
The minister said the main sticking point remained the future of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, the former supreme court chief justice, who was among the judges dismissed by Mr Musharraf.
Mr Zardari appears to oppose Mr Chaudhary's restoration on the grounds that such a measure would put the government immediately in a clash with the chief justice of the supreme court appointed by Mr Musharraf.
However, Mr Sharif is pressing for the return of all judges, including Mr Chaudhary.
The minister said Mr Zardari was keen to avoid a break with Mr Sharif, though he added that Mr Zardari was likely to win if he entered the race for the president.
"We are not short of votes," he said.