ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - PAKISTANIS will brave the risk of bomb attacks to vote in an election on Monday that could return a parliament set on driving United States ally President Pervez Musharraf out of power.

The election should have happened last month, but the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after a political rally in Rawalpindi on Dec 27 forced a delay.

The death of Ms Bhutto, the most progressive, Western-friendly politician in a Muslim nation rife with anti-American sentiment, heightened concerns about stability in the nuclear-armed state, and the vote is being keenly watched by allies and neighbours.

'We are confused. We don't have good leaders and we don't know where our country is going,' said Isa, a lecturer at a state-run college in Islamabad, reflecting despair felt by many of the 160 million people in a country that has alternated between civilian and army rule throughout its 60-year history.

Well over 450 people have died in militant-related violence this year alone, and fear could lead to a low turnout that would probably help Mr Musharraf's allies.

More than 80,000 troops will back up police on Monday to stop violence.

The other worry is rigging, which could prompt opposition parties to reject the result and call for street protests, raising concern over how the Pakistan army would react.

Otherwise, a sympathy wave is expected to help Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party emerge as the largest party in the 342 National Assembly.

Polls open at 8am (11am Singapore time) and close at 5pm (10pm Singapore time).

Results are expected to start emerging towards midnight and trends should be clear late on Tuesday morning.

Most analysts doubt PPP can get a majority. Who it chooses for coalition partners will be vital to Mr Musharraf's future.

'We will try and take all friends and foes together,' Ms Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari and de facto leader of the PPP said in a speech on the eve of the vote.

Western allies, who want a stable Pakistan focused on fighting Al-Qaeda and the Taleban, are hoping moderate forces will prevail.

Investors in a stock market that rose 40 per cent last year, and has shed six per cent since Ms Bhutto's death, feel the same.

Blamed for almost everything
If PPP does come out on top its choice of principal coalition partner lies between the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League or the party of Mr Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Mr Musharraf ousted.

An alliance between the PPP and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), better known as the PML-N or Nawaz League, is what Mr Musharraf dreads as Mr Sharif is intent on bringing him down.

There were two shooting incidents outside election offices of Mr Sharif's party in Lahore on Sunday, three men were killed, including a candidate for the provincial assembly.

Mr Musharraf's critics say his efforts to retain power have become a source of instability.

Many people disbelieve the government's assertion that Ms Bhutto was killed by a suicide team sent by a Pakistani Taleban leader with links to Al-Qaeda, and suspect shadowy members of the conservative establishment were behind the assassination.

Mr Musharraf has not been forgiven for imposing emergency rule for six weeks in November to sack judges who might have blocked his re-election for a second term by the outgoing assemblies.

Though the vote is not a presidential poll, Mr Musharraf's unpopularity is expected to play a big part in determining the make-up of the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.

Pakistanis are angry with Mr Musharraf for many reasons, and he is more vulnerable after quitting as army chief in November.

He is blamed for everything from rising food and fuel prices, to the insecurity resulting from fighting a war against militants that many Pakistanis think is America's, not theirs.

'I haven't seen such a situation in my life, when prices of all goods have shot up,' said Mr Sheikh Mohammed, a white-bearded man selling fruit from a roadside stall in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. 'Then there's the law and order situation.' -- REUTERS