Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz easily won a seat in parliament, clearing the way for him to take over as prime minister next week, officials said on Thursday.

Aziz, a former Citibank executive, bagged 76,161 votes against 29,443 for his main opponent in Attock district of central Punjab province, where he narrowly survived a suicide bombing on July 30, an Election Commission official said.

His driver and eight others were killed in the attack that officials have linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which is bent on deposing President Pervez Musharraf for his support for the U.S.-led war on terror.

Aziz, 55, who Musharraf picked to be prime minister in June after the abrupt resignation of the incumbent, also trounced his opponent in a second by-election in Tharparkar the southern province of Sindh. Legislators from the two constituencies resigned to give Aziz a chance at a seat in the lower house of parliament, which is a prerequisite to be prime minister. Candidates can win multiple seats in the National Assembly, but can retain only one.

The results of Wednesday's voting are unofficial and will formally announced later in the week.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters Aziz would form a new government next week. "I expect a new government to be formed between the 22nd and 25th of this month," he said. "The election was peaceful."

However, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto accused the government of rigging the elections and intimidation, after three of its activists were killed on Monday in a drive-by shooting near Attock.

"The PPP will soon publish a white paper on how the elections were stolen," party spokesman Farhatullah Babur told Reuters.

Source: CD/Agencies