Pakistani Elections: Musharraf's Men Out

Opposition party members celebrate election victory as Musharraf's admit defeat.

ByABC News
February 9, 2009, 9:00 PM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 19, 2008 — -- Opposition leaders in Pakistan said today they hope to form a new coalition government after preliminary results from parliamentary elections show the party of pro U.S. President Pervez Musharraf will lose control of the National Assembly.

Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q has already conceded defeat.

"Obviously, the nation has spoken through the ballot," said Tariq Azim Khan, spokesman for the PML-Q.

"We couldn't convince them. They have rejected our policies and we have accepted their verdict," Khan told Reuters.

Official tallies may not be released by the government for another day or two, but it's clear that while no party will win a majority, most of the 261 national assembly seats up for grabs were captured by the two leading opposition parties, the Pakistan People's Party, headed by Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and the Peoples Muslim League-N, led by ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf exiled in a 1999 coup.

But what kind of alliance will ultimately form the new government was not immediately clear. Nor was it clear whether Musharraf, a Bush administration ally, would be part of it.

Zardari said today at a news conference that he hoped that a coalition government could be formed without the participation of Musharraf's PML-Q. "As the largest political force of the country, we demand that we be allowed to make the government," he said in Islamabad, Reuters reported. "For now, the decision of the party is that we are not interested in any of those people who are part and parcel of the last government," Zardari said.

The White House has not yet officially commented on the elections, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tom Casey said they are awaiting the official results. But Casey did say that "it's certainly clear that Pakistan has taken a step towards full restoration of democracy. This is something we have wanted for some time."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., one of several American lawmakers who came here to monitor the election, met with the president and told reporters Musharraf was "completely accepting" of the election.

On the streets, most people we encountered were happy with the results.

"We don't think our state represents the people of this country anymore," one woman said, as she demonstrated for change

Other voters also seemed exhausted with Musharraf.

"When the people do not like you why are you sitting in the chair?" asked one man.

"This is democracy, not dictatorship."