(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-23 15:07

ISLAMABAD - A veteran politician with a reputation as a consensus builder emerged as the favorite to become Pakistan's next prime minister under an agreement by the two biggest opposition parties to form a new government together.

In a sign of the challenges facing the new leadership, a bomb ripped through a truck carrying wedding guests in an area where al-Qaida-linked militants operate, killing 12 people on Friday.

It was the first major attack on Pakistani civilians since this week's parliamentary elections, in which President Pervez Musharraf's ruling party suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of two opposition parties.

Leaders of the Pakistan People's Party, which won the most seats, were holding wide-ranging talks Saturday on ways to end a yearlong political crisis that saw the imposition of emergency rule, a purge of the judiciary and the death of hundreds in bombings blamed on Islamic militants.

They appeared eager to clip Musharraf of some of his sweeping powers, including his right to dismiss parliament, according to a statement released by the party of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

The party's choice to head the next government after the new parliament convenes, probably next month, was also being discussed.

A final decision was not expected until Monday, but party officials and political analysts said the front-runner was veteran politician Makhdoom Amin Fahim, 68, a longtime Bhutto loyalist from Sindh province who turned down an offer of the premiership by Musharraf in 2002.

Other possible nominees include Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a top People's Party figure from Punjab province, and former National Assembly speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani, party officials and analysts said.

Shafqat Mahmood, a prominent political commentator and former People's Party spokesman, said Fahim was the favorite in part because the party wanted a prime minister from Sindh province, the Bhutto family stronghold. Both Qureshi and Gilani are from Punjab, the biggest and richest of Pakistan's four provinces.

"One of the big assets of Fahim is his personality that is acceptable to people. He is a consensus builder," Mahmood said. "He would be good in a coalition and in papering over differences."

Fahim, a mild-mannered figure short on charisma, served as the go-between for Musharraf and Bhutto during her eight years in exile. Fahim turned down the prime minister's post five years ago because Musharraf wanted him to cut his ties to the Bhutto family.

Bhutto's party won the right to pick the new prime minister by finishing first in this week's balloting, claiming at least 87 of the 268 contested seats. The Pakistan Muslim League-N of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif trailed in second place with 67 seats, while the pro-Musharraf party took only 40 seats.