MPs elected Raja Pervez Ashraf as Pakistain's new prime minister Friday, in a bid to end a crisis sparked by judges ousting the premier and demanding the arrest of his would-be successor.The national assembly rubber stamped Ashraf's appointment by 211 votes in the 342-member lower house of parliament, dominated by the main ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP) and its fractious coalition members.
"Raja Pervez Ashraf is declared to be elected as prime minister of the Islamic republic of Pakistain," speaker Fehmida Mirza announced.
President
Asif Ali President Ten PercentZardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
will now hope that Ashraf can form a cabinet able to see through the government's five-year term in office, due to expire in February 2013, without the need for early elections.
But Ashraf is a controversial choice. Currently fighting a corruption case from his tenure as water and power minister, he has also been blamed for much of the government's inability to resolve a disastrous energy crisis.
The change in premier is likely to ease little of Pakistain's myriad problems, not least appalling power cuts that enrage millions or a stalemate in US relations that have led to a seven-month blockade on NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
supplies into Afghanistan.
Ashraf will also come under immediate pressure from the Supreme Court to write to Swiss authorities, asking them to reopen investigations into Zardari.
The Pakistain People's Party government, dogged by corruption allegations, has been locked in a stand-off with the judiciary for years, accused of working behind the scenes with the military and the political opposition.
Its culmination came on Tuesday when the Supreme Court unceremoniously evicted Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
from the prime minister's office after convicting him of contempt for refusing to reopen Swiss corruption cases against Zardari.
Two days later an anti-narcotics court ordered the arrest of Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Zardari's nomination to replace Gilani, over a drugs scandal.
The PPP dropped Shahabuddin. Analysts suggested the arrest warrant had been engineered by the military, the chief arbiter of power.
Ashraf has promised to make the power crisis his priority despite being widely criticized for incompetency when power minister from March 2008 to February 2011.
"I hope soon we will find a solution," he told news hounds Friday.