Asif Zardari, the husband of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s assassinated former prime minister, has emerged as the de facto leader of her Pakistan People’s party as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the couple’s eldest son, warned that his country might fall apart if next month’s elections were rigged.

Nineteen-year-old Bilawal, named as PPP chairman while his father became the party’s co-chairman, is too young to stand for parliament in the forthcoming elections. He will have to wait at least six years before reaching the mandatory age of 25, and said he would assume his leadership role “gradually and carefully”.