KARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistan’s largest and most storied political party chose Sunday to continue its dynastic traditions, anointing the 19-year-old son of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to be her ultimate successor but picking her husband to lead for now.
The selections mean that the Pakistan People’s Party, which casts itself as the voice of democracy in Pakistan, will stay in family hands for a third generation.
Bilawal Zardari, who had largely been shielded from the spotlight by his mother and has not lived in Pakistan since he was a young boy, will lead the party when he finishes his studies at Oxford University. He has no political experience.
Speaking briefly but forcefully at a news conference in the Bhutto family’s ancestral home, he said he would strive to honor his mother’s legacy. “The party’s long and historic struggle will continue with renewed vigor,” he said. “My mother always said democracy is the best revenge.”
Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, whose reputation has long been tainted by corruption charges, will run the party for at least the next several years. He said Sunday that the succession strategy reflected the wishes of his wife, who died in a gun-and-bomb attack at a rally Thursday afternoon.
The party’s new leaders — neither of whom had been a major player in Pakistani politics — take over at an especially turbulent time for the country, with elections on the horizon and President Pervez Musharraf clinging to power amid widespread unrest.
Asif Zardari quickly announced that the party will compete in the parliamentary vote scheduled for Jan. 8. Another opposition party, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, indicated it will do the same.
But Musharraf allies strongly hinted that the election would be postponed, possibly for months.
Although the Bush administration has pressed Pakistani leaders to keep to the election schedule, the State Department said Sunday that it had no objections to a slight postponement.
“If the people on the ground think this is not the time for an election, that is fine,” said spokesman Robert McInturff. “But we would want to see an alternative date. We do not want to see an indefinite delay.”
Zardari called Sunday for the United Nations to lead an international inquiry into his wife’s killing, while conceding that he had declined to give Pakistani officials permission to conduct an autopsy. “Their forensic reports are useless,” he said angrily, calling the suggestion of an autopsy “an insult to my wife, to the sister of the nation, to the mother of the nation.”
Zardari is a controversial choice to lead the party. During his wife’s two terms as prime minister in the late 1980s and 1990s, he was known as “Mr. 10 Percent” for his reputation for taking money off the top of government deals. He served an extended jail sentence under Musharraf that stemmed from the alleged corruption.
“Zardari is not very much liked in the party. He goes for big hotels, world’s best addresses. He wants to live like a prince abroad,” said Rafiq Safi, a longtime party activist.
“The U.S. is not going to be excited about working with Zardari,” said Daniel Markey, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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