Pakistan election winners gang up on Musharraf

By Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pervez Musharraf's opponents said on Tuesday they would try to form a coalition, after winning an election that cast doubt over how long the U.S.-allied Pakistani president can stay in power.

A wave of sympathy helped the Pakistan People's Party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto emerge as the largest party in the 342-seat National Assembly, although it failed to win a majority.

A hostile parliament could seek to oust Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999 and is accused of violating the constitution when he imposed six weeks of emergency rule in November to secure five more years as president.

Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower, said the PPP had the right to form a coalition government, adding there would be no place in it for the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML).

"As the largest political force of the country, we demand that we be allowed to make the government," he told a news conference in Islamabad.

"For now, the decision of the party is that we are not interested in any of those people who are part and parcel of the last government," Zardari said, appearing to leave open the option of changing his mind later.

Zardari, who took over the leadership of the PPP after Bhutto's death, said he would try to persuade Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew, to join a coalition.

Speaking at a news conference in Lahore, Sharif urged Musharraf to accept he was no longer wanted.