Easy win for Musharraf; fate hinges on SC verdict

Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf today swept the opposition-boycotted controversial presidential election but his fate hinges on a Supreme Court verdict on the legal challenges to his candidature.

Soon after the voting by lawmakers of the national and provincial assemblies, Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq announced in Parliament that Musharraf had bagged 252 of the 257 votes polled by the National Assembly and Senate.

Despite the victory, which was widely expected, the sword still hung over the General who will not be declared reelected for a five-year term immediately following a Supreme Court ruling that the result should not be officially notified till it decides on petitions challenging Musharraf's candidature.

The apex court will hear these petitions on October 17.

Unofficial results showed Musharraf had bagged all 33 votes in the Balochistan provincial assembly, 34 in North-West Frontier Province and 253 in Punjab, Dawn News TV channel reported. The result in the Sindh provincial assembly was withheld, it said.

The embattled 64-year-old military ruler, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, was expected to win the poll with the backing of its main ally, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, which also controls three provincial assemblies.

The poll was boycotted by the opposition All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), with most of its lawmakers resigning, and Pakistan People's Party of Benazir Bhutto, with whom the General arrived at a last-minute power-sharing deal, to ensure his smooth reelection.