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Five weeks after President Pervez Musharraf's opponents swept a general election, Pakistan's National Assembly elected as prime minister on Monday (March 24) Yousaf Raza Gilani, a top official in assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party. Gilani won with 264 votes in the 342-seat lower house of parliament. The only other contender, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League, that backs President Pervez Musharraf, won 42 votes. Gilani, a close aide to slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a former National Assembly speaker, was expected to win the vote with a big majority. However before the poll Gilani refused to speculate on the outcome. "As far as ascertainment is concerned, votes have still to be cast. Before that is done, I am not in a position to say anything," Gilani told reporters as he arrived for the polling. Gilani was challenged by Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a senior leader of the main pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party, which came a poor third in the February 18 general election in which Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won the most seats but not enough to rule alone. "We are taking part in this election just for the spirit of democracy. It is not a question of numbers. Every one knows what the result will be; you know; we know; everyone knows," Elahi said as walked into the House. The PPP's coalition partners, including the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which came second in the vote, and a small pro-Musharraf regional party voted for Gilani. Gilani, a soft-spoken, resolute character, was jailed in 2001 by the Musharraf government for making illegal appointments but was freed in 2006. He has said the charge was politically motivated. While in prison, Gilani wrote a book that advocated a strong military, but one that was removed from politics. Gilani has called for the repeal of constitutional changes made by Musharraf to bolster his authority, including the power to dismiss a government. The PPP-led coalition nearly has a two-thirds majority in the two-chamber parliament that is needed to amend the constitution. Musharraf will swear in Gilani on Tuesday (March 25). He is expected to begin naming ministers to his cabinet this week. The incoming government has pledged to pass a resolution to reinstate Supreme Court judges whom Musharraf dismissed in November out of fear they could rule unconstitutional his own re-election in October by the previous assembly. Immediately after the result was announced Gilani announced the freeing of the judges. "I would order the immediate release of judges of the top judiciary," he said. Parliamentarians applauded, thumping the desks and chanting "Go Musharraf Go" He also called for an investigation into the death of Benazir Bhutto. "I would request the National Assembly to pass resolution demanding the investigation by United Nations into the incident of martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007," said Gilani. Gilani also asked the assembly to pass a resolution condemning the "judicial murder" of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir's father and Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was toppled by the military in 1977 and hanged two years later after a controversial court ruling in which he was found him guilty of murder.