ISLAMABAD — At the time of going to press, unofficial results of the general elections have given a clear lead to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Riding on a wave of sympathy vote after the assassination of its leader Benazir Bhutto, it has emerged as the single largest party in the 342-seat National Assembly, although it failed to win an outright majority.

The other major opposition party, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), also made good gains.

Among the major losers were president of pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Ejazul Haq, Sheikh Rashid, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Owais Leghari, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain, Dr. Sher Afgan and Wasi Zafar.

According to unofficial results of 261 National Assembly seats, PPP had won 87 seats, PML (N) had 67 and PML (Q) trailed with 38.

A few seats were not contested, while 70 seats reserved for women and religious minorities will be divided up proportionately among parties according to the number of votes they won.

The voter turnout remained at 45.6 percent in 181 constituencies of the National Assembly, election commission sources said.

President Pervez Musharraf’s opponents said yesterday they would try to form a coalition, after winning an election that cast doubt over how long the US-allied Pakistani president can stay in power.

A hostile Parliament could seek to oust Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999 and is accused of violating the constitution when he imposed six weeks of emergency rule in November to secure five more years as president.

Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir’s widower and co-chairman of the PPP, said his party had the right to form a coalition government, adding there would be no place in it for the PML (Q). “As the largest political force of the country, we demand that we be allowed to form the government,” he told a news conference in Islamabad.

“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, appearing to leave open the option of changing his mind later.

Zardari, who took over the leadership of the PPP after Benazir’s death, said he would try to persuade Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew, to join a coalition.

‘Free Pakistan of Dictatorship’

Speaking at a news conference in Lahore, Sharif urged Musharraf to accept he was no longer wanted. “He would say, when people would want, I will go. Today the people have said what they want,” Sharif said.

Sharif added he planned to meet Zardari tomorrow. “I invite all to sit together and free Pakistan of dictatorship,” said Sharif, who returned from exile in November, a month later than Benazir.

Groups of opposition supporters celebrated in the streets across the country as results rolled out showing pro-Musharraf politicians losing.

While Pakistanis hoped for a new era, many remained unconvinced by the reappearance of politicians associated with corrupt, inefficient governments from the 1990s. “It now time for the promises that have been made by Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party to be fulfilled,” said Mohammed Arif in Karachi.

PML (Q) spokesman Tariq Azim Khan conceded defeat after the voters’ verdict but kept chances of joining a coalition alive when he said, “The people have rejected our policies and we have accepted their verdict but we are willing to cooperate and work with anybody.”

— With input from agencies