Asif Ali Zardari, the controversial widower of Benazir Bhutto, became the front-runner to replace Pervez Musharraf as Pakistan’s President yesterday when he was nominated to run in an election scheduled for next month.

Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) nominated Mr Zardari unanimously four days after Mr Musharraf resigned. Mr Musharraf’s departure deprived the West of its key Muslim ally in the War on Terror.

“Zardari thanked Pakistan People’s Party of which he is the co-chairman and said he will announce his decision within the next 24 hours,” Sherry Rehman, the Information Minister, told reporters. “Presidency is the right of our party and that is why party lawmakers asked Zardari to run for this post.”

Earlier, the election commission chose September 6 as the date for the presidential poll, which is carried out by the national Parliament’s two houses and the four provincial assemblies.

An election victory would be a huge turn of fortune for a man who was nicknamed “Mr Ten Per Cent” because of allegations, denied by him, that he received kickbacks when his wife was the Prime Minister.

Mr Zardari, 52, has spent a total of 11 years in prison on a variety of charges, longer than any other Pakistani politician.

Many analysts believe that his ascent to the presidency could strain the civilian Government’s relations with the powerful military.

The president is not only the supreme commander of the armed forces, but also has the power to remove and appoint the armed forces chief. Analysts say that military leaders would not trust a man with Mr Zardari’s record.

Mr Zardari faced trial on more than a dozen criminal charges, ranging from corruption to murder when he was arrested in 1996 after the fall of Ms Bhutto’s second Government. Most of the cases were withdrawn under Mr Musharraf’s amnesty.

According to Pakistani investigators, Mr Zardari had amassed more than $100 million (£55 million) in bank deposits and properties abroad, much of it bought with pay-offs from foreign companies doing business in Pakistan. In 1998 a Swiss judge indicted Mr Zardari on money laundering charges, which he denied.

He was freed on bail in 2004 and spent most of his time in New York before returning to Pakistan after the assassination of his wife in December 2007. He became co-chairman of the PPP with his 19-year-old son Bilawal.

The election announcement came as the ruling coalition, which forced Mr Musharraf to step down, looked likely to fall apart over growing differences on the key issue of how to treat the judges he sacked. The rift widened yesterday when the Pakistan Muslim League (N), the second-largest partner in the coalition, said that it would quit the Government unless the judges were reinstated by next week.

Nawaz Sharif, the PML (N) leader and former Prime Minister who was ousted by Mr Musharraf in a coup in 1999, wants to reinstate all 60 judges deposed during a brief emergency in November.

But Mr Zardari does not want to reappoint Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the former Chief Justice, because he might overturn an amnesty on corruption charges granted to PPP leaders last year. That allowed Ms Bhutto to return home from years in exile. Wrangling over who should be president has added to the tension between the coalition partners, who have failed to agree on a joint candidate.

Mr Zardari is now considered the front-runner as he will have no difficulty in getting elected even if the PML (N) opposes him, political analysts say. The PPP won most seats in elections in February and Mr Zardari also has the backing of other smaller parties.

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