By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani politicians were winding upcampaigns on Saturday for a general election that is meant tocomplete a transition to civilian rule but has beenovershadowed by fear of violence and accusations of rigging.
The elections on Monday are for a new parliament andprovincial assemblies and while President Pervez Musharraf isnot taking part, the vote could spell trouble for the importantU.S. ally if voters elect a parliament hostile to him.
The vote comes after a surge in violence that included theassassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on December27, that raised fears about the nuclear-armed country'sstability.
But many Pakistanis are more concerned about rising pricesand shortages of basic commodities such as wheat flour and evermore frequent power cuts.
Many are disillusioned with all politicians.
"It'll be very difficult to change this country," saidMohammad Abbas, who works in a rice shop in the town of Sabbokiin Punjab province.
"Whatever the politicians do they do for themselves, notfor change," said Abbas, who said he would not be voting.
The elections come after months of political turmoil overthe increasingly unpopular Musharraf's efforts to stay inpower.
Two-time prime minister Bhutto had been hoping to win whenshe was killed in a gun and bomb attack and her PakistanPeople's Party is expected to reap a considerable sympathyvote.
But neither it nor either of the other two main parties,the Pakistan Muslim League that backs Musharraf, and the partyof another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is expected towin a majority of seats in parliament.
A coalition between two of the three main parties, lookslikely, analysts say.
Campaigning ends at midnight on Saturday and Sunday is acooling-off day.
LOW TURNOUT EXPECTED
The attack on Bhutto and other violence have unnerved bothpoliticians and voters and turnout could be low, analysts say.
The government has deployed more than 80,000 troops for thevote and has declared 30 percent of the more than 64,000polling stations "sensitive" and 14 percent "most sensitive",including all 1,122 in the tribal belt on the Afghan border.]
Police in the southern city of Hyderabad said they arrestedthree suspected suicide bombers on Saturday and seized 10 kg(22 lb) of explosives and a suicide-bomb jacket ready for anattack.
"It seems they were planning to attack polling stations onelection day," said a police official, adding the threesuspects were from the North Waziristan region on the Afghanborder.
Militants blew up a polling centre in Khar, the main townin the Bajaur tribal region, on Friday night police said.Militants also circulated notes warning people not to vote,residents said.
Opposition parties say Musharraf's allies have been engagedin widespread pre-poll rigging.
Sharif and Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who isleading her party into the vote, have vowed streets protests ifthey are robbed of victory.
Musharraf rejects complaints of rigging and says procedureshave been refined to prevent cheating. He turned down demandsto reconstitute a caretaker government set up in November andto disband district governments that the opposition says aredominated by Musharraf's allies.
Musharraf said on Saturday he was positive the vote wouldbe fair and peaceful and he hoped for a stable government.
"We will ensure a successful fight against terrorism andextremism and we will ensure sustaining economic growth," thestate news agency reported him saying.
The opposition says the Election Commission is subservientto the government and is failing to act on complaints butcommission Secretary Kanwar Dilshad dismissed fears of rigging.
"For the first time we're using transparent ballot boxesand also for the first time, a list of polling stations andcomputerised electoral lists are on a Web site," he said.
Gallup Pakistan said it found that 51 percent of peoplesurveyed doubted the elections would be free and fair.
Nearly 81 million people, about half the country'spopulation, are registered to vote. Several hundreds foreignobservers will be monitoring but they have not been allowed toconduct exit polls.
(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider, Zeeshan Haider, andHamid Shaikh in Hyderabad))
(Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
