ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed on Friday challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's bid to seek re-election, clearing a major hurdle for the army chief's expected victory in an Oct. 6 vote.
Despite the ruling, nuclear-armed Pakistan faces months of uncertainty as Musharraf tries to keep control of a country whose support for the United States is seen as crucial to the success of Western efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and battle al Qaeda.
"As per majority six-three, the petitions are not maintainable," Judge Rana Bhagwandas, head of a nine-member bench, told the court.
Opposition supporters outside the court shouted their disapproval and threw tomatoes and eggs at the building after the decision was announced.
The court heard three petitions challenging Musharraf's right to hold the posts of president and army chief, the legality of being elected in uniform, and whether he can get a mandate from the outgoing parliament and provincial assemblies.
Legal analysts said in ruling the three petitions "not maintainable" the Supreme Court was not saying they had no merit, but the Election Commission, not the Supreme Court, might be the appropriate forum to rule on them.
Lawyers opposed to Musharraf said they would take the fight to the commission and still hoped to block Musharraf's relection.
Financial analysts said investors on Pakistan 's stock market would welcome the decision in favour of Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 coup.
"The market should react very positively to this decision as a key element of uncertainty has been removed," said Asif Qureshi, head of research at Invisor Securities in Karachi.
Investors are keen to see Musharraf continue policies that have produced strong growth in the last few years and made the Karachi Stock Exchange, which had closed for the day when the announcement came, into one of the region's top performers.
"Justice has triumphed," said presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi.
Had the court blocked Musharraf's re-election, analysts say he might have imposed emergency rule or even martial law.
Opposition to Resignation
An electoral college of members of the national parliament and provincial assemblies will vote for a president before the assemblies are dissolved for a general election due by mid-January.
Musharraf has vowed to quit the army, his main source of power, soon after winning another term. His ruling party is expected to suffer heavy losses in the general election.
An alliance of opposition parties led by the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, announced in Peshawar its members would resign from assemblies on Tuesday in protest against Musharraf's re-election bid.
The alliance also said the chief minister of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), ruled by Islamist parties, would call for the dissolution of the provincial assembly the same day.
The NWFP is at the centre of a wave of attacks by militants supported by al Qaeda.
The resignations would not derail the vote -- Musharraf only needs to win most of the votes cast and his PML holds a majority in parliament -- but it would detract from its credibility.
In all, 43 candidates filed papers, the Election Commission said. A final list will be published on Monday.
The two other prominent candidates are Wajihuddin Ahmed, a former Supreme Court judge who refused to swear allegiance to Musharraf after his coup, and a senior member of the opposition Pakistan People's Party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Makhdoom Amin Faheem.
Separately, the Supreme Court ordered Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other top officials to explain why Sharif was deported on Sept. 10 after arriving home vowing to challenge Musharraf.
Sharif, who was overthrown by Musharraf in 1999, was deported despite a Supreme Court ruling in August that he had the right to come back and the government should not try to stop him.
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