Doubts linger over Pakistan's new political dawn

By Robert Birsel - Analysis

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The two historically rival parties that won Pakistan's general election have vowed to work together to restore democracy, but some analysts doubt they will stick together for long.

The opposition trounced the unpopular President Pervez Musharraf's party in the February 18 parliamentary elections, with assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party winning the most seats, but not enough to rule on its own.

The party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, came second.

Bhutto and Sharif were bitter rivals in the 1990s when they alternated as prime minister. Both were accused of corruption and served two terms over a tumultuous period that ended when then army chief Musharraf ousted Sharif in a 1999 coup.

But Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), are vowing to work together to rid politics of the old military-bureaucratic establishment and set up true constitutional democracy.

It would be the first time in Pakistan's history that the two main parties have come together.

"This is the first time they are both trying to diminish the significance and importance of the establishment, clearly the military, and to that extent they want to diminish the powers of the president," said newspaper editor Najam Sethi.

"So there's consensus on that, but as soon as that is resolved, how to deal with Musharraf, I think they will revert back to wanting to hog the show and this whole business of national reconciliation will be taken over by party politics."