Pakistan party chief proposes Zardari as presidential candidate_English

Special report: Pakistani Situation

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- A chief of former Pakistan's ruling party on Wednesday proposed that Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari be the presidential candidate.

Altaf Hussain, leader of the ethnic Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), told private Geo TV that Zardari was the right person for the presidential slot.

Asif Ali Zardari (L), widower of slain Benazir Bhutto and co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (R) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (C), chairman of Pakistan People's Party, sit down during a meeting in Islamabad August 19, 2008. Leaders of Pakistan's coalition government set about tackling pressing economic and security problems on Tuesday as a bomb at a hospital in a northwestern town killed 20 people.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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The ruling coalition, including the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has remained divided over the presidential candidacy after former President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday.

Under the constitution, the election of the president could be held within thirty days after Musharraf left his office.

Former ruling party MQM was defeated in the Feb. 18 elections and sat on the opposition bench. 　