President Pervez Musharraf accepted Jamali's resignation and summoned a special session of the National Assembly (lower house) on June 29 to elect a new leader of the house to replace the premier who also held the post, they said.

Jamali announced his resignation on Saturday in the wake of persistent rumours that Musharraf wants to bring in a new figure to carry out his political agenda.

He said his cabinet had been dissolved and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), has been nominated as his caretaker successor.

Hussain said he would hold the post for two months before handing over to Shaukat Aziz who served as finance minister in Jamali's cabinet.

Aziz, a former Citibank official, is architect of the country's economic policy and is considered a close confidant of Musharraf.

The election Tuesday is seen as a formality to ascertain Hussain has the support of the house before he is sworn in as prime minister.

Nominations will be received until 2:00 pm Monday and the session to elect the new leader of the house will start at 4:00 pm Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said Sunday.

"I shall continue as prime minister till Aziz is elected member of the National Assembly" to meet constitutional requirements, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain told reporters Saturday.

"For the last many days, there was a confusion in the party about the prime ministership," he said. "With this peaceful change of power, the confusion has ended."

Jamali said he was quitting to save the party and to let the system function.

"I always tried my best to give comfort to the people, without hurting them."

He said his intentions were pious and his conscience was clear. "There was no allegation on me or my cabinet."