latimes - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Lawmakers on Saturday overwhelmingly endorsed a new five-year term as president for Gen. Pervez Musharraf, according to unofficial results, but the vote's legitimacy has yet to be decided by the Supreme Court.

The lopsided but clouded ballot, held simultaneously by Pakistan's national parliament and four provincial assemblies, was denounced as a sham by Musharraf's opponents, while the government praised it as a show of orderly democracy.

Anger
The high court is to rule this month on whether Musharraf is eligible under the constitution to seek a new term while still serving as head of Pakistan's powerful military — a role he has promised to relinquish only once his victory is sealed. Opponents still hope to see the 64-year-old leader retroactively disqualified.

That left Musharraf and his allies celebrating an uneasy triumph. "It's the day of the general — apparently," said an anchor on the Dawn television news channel.

Despite tight security that included phalanxes of riot police and barbed-wire barricades, anti-Musharraf protesters managed to stage small demonstrations near the assembly buildings where the votes took place.

Outside the regional parliament in the restive North-West Frontier Province, lawyers in their trademark black suits and starched shirts burned an effigy of the general in uniform and pelted a police anti-personnel carrier with rocks. Police fired tear gas to scatter them.

Although the formal outcome is on hold, the balloting was seen as a watershed in Musharraf's months-long struggle to remain in power despite an outpouring of public antipathy toward him.

The Pakistani leader is considered a key American ally in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and events here are being closely watched by the Bush administration. Musharraf has sent troops to battle Islamic militants who have found shelter in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but that military push is foundering.

The general had little meaningful competition in Saturday's vote. The other two contestants — Wajihuddin Ahmed, from a lawyers' group, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, from the party of exiled Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto — both described their candidacies as largely symbolic.

More than 150 opposition lawmakers quit their seats in protest prior to the balloting, and Bhutto's party abstained, but that made little dent in Musharraf's near-total support. In the national assemblies, he won all but five of the 257 votes cast.

In the months before the vote, the general's opponents had challenged him in court and staged anti-government street demonstrations; he responded with a harsh crackdown on opposition activists, the media and lawyers' groups that had led the legal charge against him.

Like much that happens in Pakistani politics, Saturday's vote was an exercise in brinksmanship: the Supreme Court ruling putting the results on hold came only a day before the balloting.

Also on the eve of the vote, Musharraf signed into law a measure granting an amnesty on corruption charges for Bhutto, the cornerstone of an emerging power-sharing accord between the two.

The crux of the matter is whether Pakistan, which has spent nearly half its 60-year history under military rule, will emerge from months of turmoil with a civilian government. Under heavy pressure, Musharraf has pledged to give up the military uniform he is fond of calling his "second skin" — but not only after his reelection is ratified.

Critics insisted that Saturday's vote was fatally tainted by the fact that he remained army chief while it was held.

Opponents also decried the fact that the election was held by outgoing lawmakers, only weeks before their own mandate expires. The 2002 elections for provincial and national assemblies were widely believed to have been rigged in favor of Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

Musharraf's aides, though, insisted that the vote's legitimacy would be upheld. "This election was fair and transparent," said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

The five-hour vote was shown on nationwide television, with lawmakers stepping up to cast their ballots one by one. Veiled women, men in traditional long shirts and baggy pants and parliamentarians in dapper Western suits approached the podium and dropped their folded ballots into translucent plastic containers.

Ordinary Pakistanis appeared largely indifferent. "It's a selection, not an election," said shopkeeper Muhammed Aslam, shrugging.

By contrast, parliamentary elections to be held by early next year are expected to have more of the trappings of a real campaign. Bhutto is to return to Pakistan on Oct. 18 and hopes to claim a third term as prime minister, but many in her own party fear her vote-getting potential has been damaged by dealings with Musharraf, whom she has repeatedly called a dictator.

Only a day before Bhutto's homecoming, the Supreme Court is to reconvene to hear arguments on whether Saturday's vote was valid. If the election results are thrown out by the court, many observers fear Musharraf might react with a drastic step such as declaring emergency rule or even martial law.

That in turn could force the delay of parliamentary elections, and perhaps give the general a pretext for retaining his military role.