Pakistani legislators are preparing to vote for a new president to replace Pervez Musharraf.
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister and leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), is widely expected to win the parliament vote on Saturday and replace Musharraf, who resigned on August 18 under threat of impeachment.
He faces two political candidates.
Saeed Zaman Siddiqui, a former supreme court chief justice, is the candidate backed by Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League N party.
Power and politics
Mushahid Hussain is a senator for the Pakistan Muslim League Q, the party which staunchly supported Musharraf.
"It will be an easy victory for Asif Ali Zardari as we have the support of more than 400 lawmakers out of about 700," Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the PPP, said.
The next president of Pakistan will have to face a myriad of problems plaguing the country, including its economic malaise and increasing violence in the north.
Waziristan raids
On the eve of the election, Pakistani officials reported five people had been killed in a US air raid in North Waziristan province, the second in 24 hours.
At least five people were reported to have been killed by missiles from an unmanned drone on Friday, with different sources referring to them as either fighters or civilians.
A suspected US drone missile had also killed four people near the area a day earlier.
Pakistan had summoned the US ambassador on Wednesday to protest against the killing of 20 people by US commandos from across the border in Afghanistan.
Unrest in the northwest has been attributed to tribal anger at Musharraf's support for the US "war on terror".
Bombings and suicide attacks have killed nearly 1,200 people across Pakistan in the past year alone.
PHOTO CAPTION
The main candidates in Pakistan's presidential election.