PAKISTAN: The main pro-military Pakistan Muslim League party is poised to get its candidate elected prime minister today and form a government to continue President Pervez Musharraf's foreign and economic policies.
"Inshallah [God willing], we will get the majority," the party's prime ministerial candidate, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, told reporters after filing his nomination for the post.
Mr Musharraf, who has stayed out of the limelight since the October 10th election, was due to address the nation today.
The Pakistan Muslim League's two main rivals, a six-party alliance of hardline Islamic groups and a liberal party led by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, look set for a spell in opposition after talks for a coalition broke down, analysts said.
The Muslim League has already demonstrated its strength by winning a parliamentary ballot for the speaker's post on Tuesday without needing the support of its rivals, thanks to a successful campaign to woo smaller parties to its side.
It says it is confident of victory again today, but its majority is likely to be thin, indicating that the first civilian government since a 1999 military coup might not be stable.
The likely exclusion from government of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an Islamic alliance that won 60 seats in last month's elections on a wave of anti-U.S. sentiment, may reassure Pakistani investors and proponents of the US-led war on terror.
The Islamists strongly oppose Mr Musharraf's support for the US, want foreign coalition forces to leave Pakistani bases and say they would like to impose Islamic sharia law. The pro-military Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) won 118 seats in last month's general election, well short of a majority in the 342-member assembly, but has attracted small parties to its side as well as defectors from Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party.
Political analysts said the Muslim League was likely to continue Mr Musharraf's policies and the way he has handled tension with India over Kashmir, support for the US campaign in Afghanistan and gradual economic reform at home.
"There will be a cosmetic change but I don't foresee any change in the direction of reforms and foreign policy," newspaper editor Rahimullah Yusufzai said.
"They will do the military's bidding."
Pakistani stocks closed higher yesterday on the belief the Muslim League would win and continue the economic reforms begun under Mr Musharraf's military rule.
"Looking at the pro-Musharraf stance of the PML(QA), the probability is high that PML government will continue the reforms agenda implemented by the Musharraf regime," said Mohammad Sohail, head of research at Investcap Securities.
"As far as foreign policy is concerned, I think there will be no change in the policy because PML is a moderate political party unlike the religious parties."
Islamic leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman also filed his nomination papers on behalf of the religious alliance while Bhutto's People's Party nominated Shah Mahmood Qureshi as its candidate.
"We have been in the opposition in the past and it will not be a new thing for us now," Mr Rehman said. Mr Sohail said the PML government may face some difficulties in the parliament because of strong opposition but other than that it would be be "life as normal." - (Reuters)