Bhutto's Son Leader of PPP ?

I'm a little astonished by this revelation.

While Bhutto's son will certainly have a degree of name recognition, but I find it hard to believe that at the age of 19 he'll be ready to "take the reins" from his father anytime soon.

Although it creates a certain "image" of consistency for the party in the short term, it seems to me that it also tells us something indirectly about the state of "democratic" politics in Pakistan. When party leadership is decided not by the party membership but its executive - who have clearly tried to make a dynasty of sorts out of the Bhutto family - it tells us just how very limited the concept of democracy as we understand it is in that nation.

I suspect that if a public vote goes ahead in early January, that Pakistan will collapse into civil war shortly after that. In the wake of Mrs. Bhutto's assassination, it seems likely to me that any election outcome is going to be seen as illegitimate by whatever factions do not gain the power that they claim is their due.