The two largest parties in the NA have reached an agreement on the formation of government in the center and also eastern Punjab province.

The PPP, PML-N and some other coalition partners on Tuesday announced that they had eventually worked out a power-sharing formula on the setup of the future cabinet.

The concerned parties decided that the composition of the cabinet would be based on the strength of the parties in the National Assembly and the Senate. The PPP Information Secretary Sherry Rehman told the media on Tuesday that the cabinet portfolios would be decided after the government finalized its candidate for the premiership slot.

However, the PPP still appeared to be divided on the nomination of prime minister on Wednesday. There were conflicting reports about whether the PPP had made a final decision in this regard.

The PPP's Parliamentarians President and Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who used to be considered as an unanimous PPP candidate for Prime Minister, Wednesday clarified that he was still in the run for premiership amongst suspicion that Zardari would finally field a candidate against Fahim's wishes.

Some senior leaders from PML-N publicly criticized Fahim for being close to President Pervez Musharraf, whom Nawaz Sharif has been urging to resign after the general elections.

The National Accountability Bureau recently dropped all the charges against Zardari, paving the way for him to get elected as a member of the NA in the by-elections in May. Eventually, Zardari will be eligible for the office of Prime Minister.

Rumors have been circulating that Zardari would field an interim Prime Minister for several months. After that, he would get himself elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

However, Fahim has quite a few supporters in PPP as a senior leader. A PPP leader on Wednesday said even if Zardari did not nominate Fahim as the PM candidate, he had every right to run for the slot and would understandably get some support from PPP as well as the opposition parties.

Senior vice president of PPP Sayed Yousuf Raza Gillani on Wednesday termed the rumors of interim Prime Minister immature and said their party would nominate the candidate after building consensus within its ranks.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2008)