By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A bomb attack outside a Pakistanielection candidate's office killed at least 21 people onSaturday, the last day of campaigning for a general electionmeant to complete a transition to civilian rule.
Police in the south of the country said they had foiledanother attack planned for polling day on Monday.
Campaigning for the elections to a new parliament andprovincial assemblies has been overshadowed by security fears,especially since former prime minister Benazir Bhutto waskilled in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27.Opposition politicians have also complained of vote rigging.
The poll could spell trouble for President PervezMusharraf, a key U.S. ally, if voters elect a parliamenthostile to him.
Voting was postponed from January 8 following Bhutto'sassassination, which raised fears about the nuclear-armedcountry's stability.
Saturday's suspected suicide car-bomb attack in the town ofParachinar, in the Kurram region on the Afghan border, occurredas supporters of a candidate backed by Bhutto's party weregoing into his office after a rally, witnesses said.
"It's a very bad situation. Bodies are lying everywhere butwe have not yet counted them," Muneer Hussain Bangash, a doctorin the main government hospital in the northwestern town ofParachinar, told Reuters.
A Reuters reporter at the scene counted 21 bodies.
The attack on Bhutto and other violent incidents haveunnerved politicians and voters and turnout on Monday could below despite the deployment of more than 80,000 troops.
Pakistanis are also concerned about rising prices andshortages 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.
COALITION LIKELY
The elections follow months of political turmoil over theincreasingly unpopular Musharraf's efforts to stay in power.
Two-time prime minister Bhutto had been hoping to win andher Pakistan People's Party is expected to reap a considerablesympathy vote.
But with none of the main parties -- the PPP, the PakistanMuslim League that backs Musharraf, and the party of anotherformer prime minister, Nawaz Sharif -- expected to secure amajority, a coalition between two of the three is likely.
Campaigning ends at midnight on Saturday. Sunday is acooling-off day.
Police in the southern city of Hyderabad said on Saturdaythey had arrested three suspected suicide bombers and seized 10kg (22 lb) of explosives and a suicide-bomb jacket.
"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.
Opposition parties say Musharraf's allies have been engagedin widespread pre-poll rigging. Sharif and Bhutto's widower,Asif Ali Zardari, who is leading her party into the vote, havevowed streets protests if they are robbed of victory.
Musharraf rejects complaints of rigging and says procedureshave been refined to prevent cheating. He said on Saturday hewas positive the vote would be fair and peaceful and that hehoped for a stable government.
"We will ensure a successful fight against terrorism andextremism and we will ensure sustaining economic growth," thestate news agency reported Musharraf as 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 riggingand said everything was ready for the vote.
Gallup Pakistan said it found 51 percent of people surveyeddoubted the elections would be free and fair.
Nearly 81 million people, about half the country'spopulation, are registered to vote. Several hundred foreignobservers will be monitoring but they have not been allowed toconduct exit polls.
(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Zeeshan Haider,and Hamid Shaikh in Hyderabad)
(Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Catherine Evans)
