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Musharraf loyalist Jamali elected new Pakistani prime minister

K J M Varma in Islamabad

As expected, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, a loyalist of President Pervez Musharraf, was on Thursday elected as Pakistan's prime minister in a Parliamentary vote, paving the way for an elected government for the first time in three years after the military ruler grabbed power in a coup in 1999.

The election was held amid stormy debate over Musharraf's presidency and constitutional amendments.

Jamali, sponsored by the pro-military alliance, got 172 votes defeating Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Islamic religious party alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal and candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party Shah Mahmud Qureshi.

Pro-Taliban candidate Fazlur Rehman secured 86 votes, while Qureshi got 70 votes in an election held with National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain pressing for a division.

In all 328 members voted and one abstained.

The election of Jamali, who will be the 19th prime minister, was a forgone conclusion as his group PML-Q had bagged the post of the speaker and the deputy speaker.

In today's elections the members voted their choice by indicating their preference to the assembly officials.

The election process was televised live. Those who voted for Jamali, included 10 members of the Pakistan Peoples Party headed by Benazir Bhutto.

Most of the smaller parties and independents, except cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan, voted for Jamali.

Imran along with 19 members of the PML-N, headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharief, voted for MMA candidate Rehman.

One member, Muhammad Achakzai of Baluchistan National Party declined to vote, while another member refused to take oath without official clarification from the speaker about the status of Musharraf's constitutional amendments.

The member said he was opposed to amendments. Jamali is expected to form the government shortly.

Jamali, born in 1944, is considered a lightweight in Pakistan politics.

An ex-chief selector of Pakistan hockey team, Jamali hails from Jamli tribe in Baluchistan province bordering Afghanistan.

He is the first politician to get elected as prime minister from Baluchistan, which is considered the smallest of Pakistan's four provinces.

He shot into prominence after winning elections to the Baluchistan Assembly in 1977 on a PPP ticket.

He was later inducted into the provincial ministry and served as minister for information and food.

He later quit PPP after the military coup by Zia-ul-Haq and took over as minister of food of the province.

He was minister for water and power in Muhammad Khan Junejo's Cabinet under the military ruler.

In 1988 he was elected Baluchistan chief minister with a majority of one vote.

But his ministry fell within a month. He was elected to National Assembly in 1993 and became an acting chief minister of Baluchistan after the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto in 1996.

He was elected to the National Assembly again from Baluchistan in the October 10 elections and selected by Musharraf's loyalists to contest the prime ministerial post.

More reports from Pakistan

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