Large, framed portraits of the slain two-time former premier loom large beside the faces of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and brothers, Shahnawaz and Murtaza, who also died violent deaths.

It is a visual testament to a dynasty whose legacy continues to rule the hearts and minds of the people.

In Naudero, as with citizens across Pakistan, Ms Benazir's assassination remains locked in the mind amid the imminent prospect of her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, becoming president of the nuclear-armed nation on Saturday.

'I love Benazir and would die for her cause,' said Mr Ameer Ali, sweat pouring from his skin and clutching the spade he uses to mix muddy earth into bricks, earning just 200 rupees (S$3.73) a day.

But to him, Saturday's election is an irrelevance that caps a disappointing six months since democracy returned to Pakistan.

'I have no interest whatsoever in whether Asif Ali Zardari becomes our 'Badsha' or not,' the 24-year-old said, using the Pakistani term for king.

'We voted for Benazir but what have we got in return? We cannot afford to buy food for our children, let alone education for them,' he added, referring to the rampant inflation and rising prices endemic in a backsliding economy.

Having taken control of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) after Ms Bhutto's death, Mr Zardari led it to victory in national polls in February, a win attributed in large part to a sympathy vote in the wake of his wife's killing.

Mr Zardari is now on the brink of sealing a political ascendancy considered unthinkable nine months ago, and is expected to win a secret ballot among the country's lawmakers to become president.

But it will be a hollow victory in the eyes of many.

'We voted for the PPP because Bhutto told us that democracy is the best revenge,' said Mr Oghan Jatoi, a security guard in Larkana, a neighbouring town of Naudero, where portraits of Mr Zardari are conspicuous by their absence.

'Those who have succeeded her are little concerned about her promises of providing food, clothes and shelter to everyone,' said the 26-year-old, who earns just 100 rupees a day. 'Food has become too expensive.'

And at the Bhutto mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, a village 15 kilometres away from Naudero, the feeling was that Mr Zardari is continuing his ride to power on the back of his wife's popularity.

'It is the greatness of the legacy of Bhutto that will see Zardari become the president,' said Mr Ijaz Bhutto, a common Pakistani name, who queues up daily in the hope of gaining a labouring job.

'Zardari's own credentials are extremely murky and hardly inspire me,' he added.

A vendor of photographs and other memorabilia near the Bhutto family tomb was brutally frank.

'I sell mainly Benazir portraits and the photographs of other Bhutto members, but no one purchases Zardari's,' said Mr Abdur Razzak.

'People don't like him so they don't buy his photographs and we don't put them on sale.'

But the man who is likely to succeed Pervez Musharraf, who resigned in the face of impeachment charges last month, did have occasional supporters who jumped to his defence.

'Everyone knows that the People's Party government was not given a smooth sailing till August as Musharraf was occupying the presidency and hatching conspiracies,' said Mr Allah Dino Shaikh, a gas station employee.

'Now we have got rid of Musharraf we can hope that Zardari as the next president will deliver a great deal to the betterment of the people.' -- AFP