The widower of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto struck a conciliatory note on the eve of a general election, saying his party would form a broad-based government bringing in old foes if it won. Opinion polls suggest Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) will emerge as the largest party in the 342-member lower house of parliament when nation votes on Monday.
But with none of the three main parties - the PPP, the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) - expected to secure a majority, a coalition government is seen as the likeliest outcome. Zardari said he did not believe in the politics of vengeance and wanted to forge unity among all political forces.
"If God gives us a chance ... we will try to take all foes and friends together," Zardari said in a speech on Sunday at a ceremony for the launch of a newspaper at an Islamabad hotel. "I think we have reached the breaking point where if we don't band together, we will lose this great nation which we call Pakistan," he said.
Any effort to get rid of Musharraf could spell more political turmoil in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is on the front line of the US-led campaign against terrorism.
As president, Musharraf holds the power to dismiss the parliament and the government. Opposition parties have long called for the repeal of these powers. Zardari said he would like talks with the military-led establishment to enhance the parliament's powers. "We have to fight for the independence of the parliament," he said. Musharraf allies are expected to fare badly in the vote because of his unpopularity, discontent over rising prices and shortages of commodities, and anger over Bhutto's murder. But analysts say the pro-Musharraf PML-Q cannot be written off and it has strong candidates in the battleground province of Punjab who will win many seats.
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