Pakistan's National Assembly is set to elect a prime minister on Monday five weeks after President Pervez Musharraf's opponents swept a general election. Yousaf Raza Gilani, a close aide to slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a former National Assembly speaker, is expected to win the vote with a big majority. The National Assembly is to due to meet at about 4 p.m. (1100 GMT) for the vote, Reuters reported. Gilani will be challenged by Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a senior leader of the main pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party, which came a poor third in the Feb. 18 general election in which Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won the most seats but not enough to rule alone. The PPP's coalition partners, including the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which came second in the vote, and a small pro-Musharraf regional party will be voting for Gilani. "We hope to win with a big margin. He's almost a consensus candidate because except for the PML, all other parties are supporting Mr Gilani," said senior PPP official Syed Naveed Qamar.
