Pak ruling coalition claims polls win

The elections were officially held on a non-party basis but were keenly contested by political factions to consolidate their power bases ahead of general elections in 2007 which are expected to result in Musharraf staying in power.

The Election Commission said it was still counting ballots from Thursday's second round and an official announcement on winning candidates was expected late Saturday or Sunday.

The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League said candidates backed by the ruling coalition fared well in all four provinces including the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) ruled by an opposition Islamist alliance.

"Like the first phase, we have also swept the second phase," Tariq Azim Khan, a spokesman for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, told Reuters.

"We have maintained our majority in Punjab, which has been our stronghold, as well as in Sindh and Baluchistan," he said.

"We have done well even in NWFP, contrary to what has been said before the elections. Results in NWFP show people have rejected extremism."

But Islamists denounced the elections as rigged and said they took part in the polls "only to expose the regime before the world".

"The results are totally managed, planned and rigged," Liaquat Baluch, deputy secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance said.

"It shows that free and fair elections are not possible in the presence of General Musharraf."

Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism who sharpened his criticism of Islamists ahead of the elections, on Friday hailed the outcome of the poll as "defeat for extremists".

MMA won control of NWFP and shared power in Baluchistan, thanks in part to anti-American sentiment fuelled by the US-led war on terrorism launched in neighbouring Afghanistan in late 2001.

The elected councillors will vote themselves on Sept. 29 for district and sub-district chiefs known as nazims. The nazims influence is expected to play a key role in campaigning for general elections in two years time.

Musharraf is expected to stand for office in 2007 and he is widely expected to be voted in by the national and provincial assemblies that emerge from the general elections.

But analysts say it is yet to be seen how Musharraf will develop relations with the secular political forces like the party of the self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as he tries to sideline religious conservatives.

After coming to power in a bloodless military coup six years ago, Musharraf won a controversial referendum in 2002 to become president for five years and was later endorsed by the parliament.