Musharraf urged to go after Pakistan poll

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani President PervezMusharraf's opponents won a big election victory on Tuesday asvoters rejected his former ruling party, raising doubts whetherthe U.S. ally who has ruled since 1999 can keep power.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in acoup and only allowed back from exile three months ago, urgedMusharraf to accept he was no longer wanted.

"He would say when people would want, I will go. Today thepeople have said what they want," Sharif said after his partyran a close second in Monday's polls.

A wave of sympathy helped the Pakistan People's Party ofassassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto emerge as thelargest party in the 342 seat National Assembly.

But it does not have a majority and will need to seekcoalition partners.

Bhutto's assassination in a suicide attack on December 27heightened concern about the stability of the nuclear-armedMuslim state, where al Qaeda leaders have taken refuge.

Musharraf, who emerged as a crucial U.S. ally in a "war onterror" most Pakistanis think is Washington's, not theirs, hasseen his popularity plummet in the last year as he reeled fromone political crisis to another.

Groups of happy opposition supporters celebrated in thestreets in cities across the country as results rolled outshowing pro-Musharraf politicians losing.

While Pakistanis hoped for a new era, many remainedunconvinced by the reappearance of politicians associated withcorrupt, inefficient governments from the 1990s.

"The promises that have been made by Nawaz Sharif andPeople's Party should now be fulfilled and they should dosomething for the country and not for themselves," saidMohammed Arif, sitting in his pharmacy in Karachi.

DISTANT THIRD

The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League trailed a distantthird, and the party's spokesman conceded defeat after thevoters' verdict but kept alive chances of joining a coalition.

"They have rejected our policies and we have accepted theirverdict," PML's Tariq Azim Khan told Reuters.

"For the best interest of the country, we're willing tocooperate and work with anybody."

While it was not a presidential election, a hostileparliament could try to remove Musharraf.

Sharif said he planned to meet Bhutto's widower, Asif AliZardari, who took over the helm of the PPP, on Thursday.

"I am looking forward to working with all democraticforces," he said.

"I invite all to sit together and free Pakistan ofdictatorship, sit together to say goodbye to dictatorshipforever."

Some analysts said differences between the PPP and Sharif'sparty made a coalition doubtful.

Counting was continuing with results still awaited in lessthan 20 seats, but no party could win a majority.

As of 6 p.m. (1 p.m. British time), unofficial results for252 seats showed Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had won86 and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) had 65.

The pro-Musharraf PML trailed with 37. Small parties andindependents shared the others.

A few seats weren't contested, while 70 reserved for womenand religious minorities will be divided up proportionatelyamong parties according to the number of votes they won.

Musharraf has said he would accept the results and workwith whoever won to build democracy in a country that hasalternated between civilian and army rule throughout its60-year history.

Increasingly isolated, Musharraf allowed Bhutto to returnfrom eight years in self-exile in October, and, pressured bySaudi King Abdullah, he let Sharif come back a month later,though he was barred from standing in the election.

DECISIVE FACTOR

Bhutto's slaying intensified anti-Musharraf sentiment, withfew people accepting the government's assertion she was killedby al Qaeda-linked militants, and her death resulted in thevote being postponed from January 8.

Other reasons for PML's defeat were Musharraf'sunpopularity and anger over inflation, food shortages and powercuts.

Sharif's party found favour for its demands judgesdismissed last November, when Musharraf imposed a brief spellof emergency rule, should be reinstated to decide whether hecould keep the presidency.

Relief at the absence of serious rigging relatively lowlevels of violence helped Pakistan's main stock market gainmore than 3 percent, despite the prospect of further upheavals.

At least 20 people were killed, but that was not as bad asfeared after a bloody campaign.

An election watchdog group put turnout at 35 percent.

A secular ethnic Pashtun nationalist party was winning inNorth West Frontier Province. Islamist parties that won in 2002were soundly trounced as moderate forces re-established theirinfluence on Pakistan's most militant-prone region.

(To read more about the Pakistan election, double-click onand visit the Reuters blog "Pakistan: Now or Never?" athttp://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/)

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider, Faisal Aziz andSahar Ahmed in Karachi; Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editingby Alex Richardson and Jerry Norton)