"This is not what the general President, nor the American, would have like to see, but the fact is that once again, the Americans helped the fundamentalists, but this time because they are hated", one Pakistani journalist told Iran Press Service, commenting on the elections results.

Traditionally, the religious parties have had trouble winning seats in the national parliament, but the people, mostly in areas bordering Afghanistan, where there had been large support for the Taleban, welcomed the Muttaheda Majles Amal’s (MMA) anti-US campaign.

The rest was divided between smaller parties and independent candidates.

"This means that the MMA apart from controlling the NWFP will also hold the balance of power in the national assembly. This will force any government formed to cut back on Pakistan's support for the war on terror", Mohammad Afzal Niazi, a political analyst from Lahore, told the French news agency AFP.

"Living aside people’s hate of the United States, both because of having toppled the Taleban in Afghanistan and the fact that they have become the de facto master of Pakistan, people also wanted a change from the past corrupt and inefficient traditional secular rulers and decided to open parliament’s doors to religious parties", the analyst added.

Both Mrs Bhutto and Mr. Nawaz Sharif are barred from the elections.

"It has been a highly controversial election and we believe there has been widespread rigging", Mrs. Bhutto said, speaking from London.

For his part, Mr. Sharif, who was deposed in the 1999 military coup staged by General Mosharraf rejected the results, describing the elections as a "farce rigged with frauds".

EU chief observer John Cushnahan said the Pakistani military authorities engaged in "unjustified interference with electoral arrangements and the democratic process".

The observers also accused General Mosharraf of hampering the election campaign by restricting rallies and banning processions.

A government spokesman said Islamabad did not accept the EU criticism and most people felt the elections were the fairest ever seen in Pakistan. "This election was historic and confirms Pakistan’s return to democratic rule", the spokesman said.

It was Pakistan's first general election since General Mosharraf seized power in a coup in 1999. Some 100 parties, organisations and groups had taken part.

The United States welcomed the election as "an important milestone in Pakistan's ongoing transition to democracy".

Seven people were killed and over 70 injured in clashes in parts of the Punjab, Sindh, and NWFP. However, no major disruption in the election process took place, observers said.

The fear is that the religious parties would dictate conditions to others, including the closure of American bases in Pakistan. This is more likely, unless the PML (Q) and the PPP can come together.

"It is difficult, but not impossible, as the PPP has already ruled this out and the MMA cannot co-exist in the same government, thereby ruling out an opposition coalition", our source pointed out.

"While there can be differences in interpreting individual parties' performances in the Thursday elections, it is undeniable that more seats have been won by parties opposed to General Mosharraf's policies than by his supporters", observed "The Nation", adding that together these three have won over 130 National Assembly seats against 101 won by those supportive of the government.

"Political engineering by the establishment having failed to liquidate the PPP and PML(N), and any further resort to it to exclude the PPP and PML(N) or the MMA from government formation could expose the state to new perils. The military government must accept the verdict given by the people", the paper added in a commentary Sunday.

"The News", the English-language sister paper of the influential "Jang" also noted that the military regime faces the "daunting task of hammering together a viable government out of the plethora of parties, big and small".

"A hung parliament is not always an appropriate prescription for a government run by a strongman, at least not in the present circumstances", the paper said.