Musharraf's man wins election

Aziz is credited as a reformer

The man chosen to become Pakistan's next prime minister has won a by-election that will enable him to take office, officials say.

Results showed Shaukat Aziz had won both the constituencies where he stood for parliament.

President Pervez Musharraf's choice has to become an MP to take up the post.

The current finance minister is an ally of General Musharraf and is due to replace temporary premier, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Vote-rigging allegations

The districts where Mr Aziz ran are located in two regions: Tharparkar in the southern province of Sindh, and Attock in the central province of Punjab.

Pakistan's official APP news agency said Mr Aziz had won significant majorities in both the constituencies.

In Attock, Mr Aziz, a former banker, got 76,161 votes against 29,443 for his opponents, an Election Commission official told Reuters.

Opposition parties fielded joint candidates in a bid to narrow the odds.

The election was peaceful Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Information Minister

But both were safe seats which ruling party MPs vacated to make way for Mr Aziz.

Mr Aziz will form a new government next week, Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

"I expect a new government to be formed between 22 and 25 of this month," he told reporters.

The opposition parties alleged vote rigging during the elections. Mr Ahmed denies it.

"The process of election has been transparent and fair and the opposition allegations are baseless," he said.

The BBC's correspondent in Attock, Zaffar Abbas, says most by-elections in Pakistan are lacklustre and predictable but these were different as the governing Pakistan Muslim League Party (PML) desperately wanted Mr Aziz to win.

The opposition parties refused to give him a walkover and jointly put up candidates in the two seats to turn it into an extremely interesting contest, our correspondent says.

As finance minister, Mr Aziz has become one of the most trusted members of President Musharraf's original team since a military coup four years ago.

A former banking executive, Mr Aziz has played a major role in efforts to turn round the country's economy.

To ensure a comfortable win, the PML asked two of its MPs to vacate their safe seats.

But the opposition parties fought back, making the thrust of their campaign the allegation that state machinery was used to mobilise support for Mr Aziz - a charge the government has repeatedly denied.

Tense town

The campaign by the two sides turned more vicious and violent in the past few days, our correspondent says.

The election authorities ordered soldiers to guard most of the polling stations in the two constituencies.

In Fateh Jang, unidentified gunmen killed supporters of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's PPP on Monday.

The town was also the scene of a failed assassination attempt on Mr Aziz in July.

He escaped unharmed, but nine people were killed, including the suicide bomber.

In Monday's incident, police said gunmen pulled up their car next to supporters of the PPP who were distributing campaign pamphlets.

They began firing and at least three people died.

Police say that they do not know who carried out the attack, but the PPP has blamed supporters of Mr Aziz.