Outcry as Musharraf re-election vote date set

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will seek re-election on October 6, despite legal challenges in the Supreme Court and slumping popularity, officials announced on Thursday.

U.S. ally General Musharraf has said he will retire from the army if elected by parliament and provincial assemblies.

His allies have a majority in those bodies, but opposition parties are trying to block his plan, and there is growing speculation he is finally losing his grip on power after taking control in a coup eight years ago.

The Supreme Court is hearing a set of petitions challenging Musharraf's right to retain his dual role, the legality of being elected while in uniform, and whether he should be allowed to get a mandate from the sitting assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election due by mid-January.

The outcome of the political crisis is of keen interest to the United States, which counts on Musharraf's support for Western intervention in Afghanistan and the war against al Qaeda, but wants a transition from military rule to democracy.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has vowed in a new tape to retaliate against Musharraf for the killing of a rebel cleric and the raid on his mosque in July, a U.S. Web site said on Thursday.

"We in al Qaeda organization call on God to witness that we will retaliate for the blood of ... Abdul Rashid Ghazi and those with him against Musharraf and those who help him, and for all the pure and innocent blood," lauramansfield.com quoted bin Laden as saying in English excerpts of his comments.

Earlier, in another al Qaeda video, bin Laden's deputy Ayman al Zawahiri exhorted supporters to fight the United States and take revenge on the Pakistan army for its assault on the mosque.

Musharraf survived at least two al Qaeda inspired assassination attempts in 2003, and bin Laden and Zawahri are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

There was an attempt to shoot down Musharraf's plane earlier this year, and there have been a series of suicide attacks on security forces in the last few months.

BULLDOZING

After the election date was announced, political foes accused Musharraf of trying illegally to force through his re-election.

"Pervez Musharraf has once again tried to flout the constitution through the Election Commission," said Siddiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the party led by Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted.

The Karachi stock market showed little reaction -- the index closed 0.62 percent down at 13,045.69 -- but investors were nervous about the political uncertainty, analysts said.

Musharraf's current tenure is due to expire on November 15, and his top legal aide has told the court he will be sworn in as a civilian leader if he is given a fresh 5-year mandate.

Visiting Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said the commitments made were appreciated, but "the jury is out for a little while yet". He described the next four months as "very critical to the future of Pakistan".

If the court blocks his path, Musharraf could dissolve the assemblies and seek re-election from new assemblies after a general election, or he could impose emergency rule.

Musharraf derives most of his support from the army, and there have been signs of disunity among his political backers.

NEW FRIENDS NEEDED

In Pakistan, members of the parliament -- National Assembly and Senate -- as well as those from the four provincial assemblies elect the president by secret ballot.

Musharraf's allies enjoy the simple majority needed for him to win, but are expected to be in the minority after the general election, unless new friends are found.

Faced with plummeting popularity after an ill-judged attempt to sack the Supreme Court chief justice last March, Musharraf has been in talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, head of the largest political party, but they have yet to seal a power-sharing pact.

"There is no question of voting for a uniformed president. We will not be voting for a president in uniform," said Sherry Rehman, spokeswoman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

That left open the possibility that Bhutto, who plans her return from more than eight years of self-exile on October 18, could order PPP lawmakers to abstain, but remain in the assemblies to lend Musharraf's re-election more credibility.

Other opposition groups have threatened to quit parliament if his nomination is accepted, and have street protests planned.

Nomination papers for the presidential election will be filed on September 27 while candidates will be finalized on October 1.