Reply #10: But I don't think she was elected by the population.

[Igel]

She was the head of her father's political party, the PPP, since, well, he was her daughter. She had the pull, and the PPP is as close as you come to a progressive, secular, mainstream party in Pakistan.

The PPP had a plurality and put together a coalition to control the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of their Congress, or had an outright majority. I don't know which it was. Not gonna take the time to find out, either, it's 2 am.

The National Assembly elects the prime minister. It's fairly common, I think, for the controlling political parties to have their chairfolk as prime minister, sort of a perk that comes with dominance. I imagine the first time there was a bit of a fight over it the first time, but to be honest I wasn't paying attention.

Bhutto was no more elected by popular vote than Musharraf was in August, although when the PPP gained its plurality/majority I assume most of the PPP voters would have foreseen her being PM.