Bhutto's party could win by sympathy vote

Multan: The strength of a sympathy vote for assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in the country's biggest province is likely to determine the result of a general election on February 18.

Even though it is not a presidential election the vote could determine the fate of President Pervez Musharraf, with opponents calling for the increasingly unpopular leader to step down.

Bhutto's party is expected to sweep rural areas of her home province of Sindh and split the vote in its capital, Karachi, with a pro-Musharraf party.

"Certainly there's a sympathy vote," said Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, a vice chairman of Bhutto's party standing in Punjab province, where half the country's 160 million people live and half of its members of parliament will be elected.

Musharraf won re-election for another five-year term as president in an October vote by legislators. But critics say he has held on to power unconstitutionally and he could face efforts to unseat him in an opposition-dominated parliament.

"The People's Party has a much brighter chance now than it probably could have had with Bhutto on the scene," Rais said of the sympathy vote. "Punjab is key and I see some change in Punjab in their favour."