Pakistan Opposition Poised to Win Anti-Musharraf Vote (Update2)

By Khalid Qayum and James Rupert

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's opposition parties were poised to win parliamentary elections as voters sought an end to President Pervez Musharraf's eight years of military rule.

``It seems, according to predictions, that the opposition has won,'' Tariq Azeem, a spokesman for the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam said in a telephone interview from the capital, Islamabad.

Early results from the 64,000 polling booths showed gains for the late Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party and former prime minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League. A two-thirds majority would give the opposition the mandate to press Musharraf to reverse constitutional changes that have kept him in power since a 1999 military coup.

``Going by the trend the opposition parties will win, if they don't sweep they will at least get the majority,'' Talat Masood, former general and a political and defense analyst, said in a telephone interview from Islamabad. ``Definitely, the results are being delayed and maybe the authorities will try to take advantage of the night but I doubt very much they will be able to manipulate.''

With 100 of 272 constituencies reporting, Bhutto's party won 28 seats in the National Assembly, with Sharif's group securing 32, according to the private Online International News Network's Web site. The Pro-Musharraf party won in 12 districts, it said. The official Election Commission tally showed Bhutto and Sharif's party with six seats each and Musharraf's backers with one victory, out of 21 parliamentary seats.

Won't Dislodge

Even a landslide opposition victory won't necessarily dislodge the president. Musharraf, 64, has the constitutional authority to dissolve parliament. That power and concerns about rigged balloting lead...

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