The party most closely linked to Pakistan's outgoing military regime emerged Saturday as the main player and potential coalition builder in parliament, after an election in which an Islamic front won major gains. Dubbed the "king's party" for its perceived backing of President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-a-Azam had won 77 of the 272 constituency seats by 4 a.m. (7 p.m. EDT on Friday) with six results still unconfirmed.

Clouding the political horizon was the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) led by exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, which despite alleging vote rigging and political meddling by arch-enemy Musharraf, had secured 62 seats.

But the main surprise in Thursday's poll was a stunning performance by a grouping of firebrand Islamic parties, which tapped anger over the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan to virtually sweep the board in two conservative western provinces.

The Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) coalition won 49 seats, compared with a total of two seats among all religious parties at the last election in 1997.

The gains, attributed by analysts to the fiercely anti-American MMA's ideological rallying call and voter apathy among other mainstream parties, could make the religious right a key player in post-election jockeying.

How that affects the U.S.-led "war on terror" in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which Musharraf supported despite opposition from many of his people, remains to be seen, but U.S. officials sought to play down the likely impact of the MMA's triumph.

"We think that Pakistan's people and government have already demonstrated their strong opposition to terrorism and extremism, their desire to move their society in a more moderate and stable direction," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"We have said we welcome that. We look forward to working with them on that. We hope that all parties will be committed to moving in that direction," he added in Washington.

PHOTO CAPTION

Mian Aslam, (L) newly-elected member of Pakistan's National Assembly on the ticket of Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of six Islamic parties, leads prayers in Islamabad October 11, 2002. (Mian Khursheed/Reuters)