At stake are the future course and political stability of this nuclear-armed nation of 160 million people, which is struggling with economic problems and rising Islamic militancy at a time when the United States is counting on its assistance in the war on terror.

In the latest attack, a bomb on Saturday exploded in an Italian restaurant crowded with foreigners in the capital, Islamabad, killing a Turkish woman and wounding 12 other people, including five Americans.

The string of attacks have led many Pakistanis to question Mr Musharraf's alliance with the United States Parliamentary elections last month in which Mr Musharraf's allies were routed illustrated the growing unhappiness with the former general, who dominated Pakistan's politics during eight years of military rule before quitting the army in November.

He remains president, with sweeping powers to dismiss the parliament and prime minister.

But the transition to democracy promises to be politically turbulent as Mr Musharraf's manouvres to cling to the presidency amid the ambitions of the new civilian leaders.

Voters want lawmakers to quickly dismantle Mr Musharraf's 'one-man system' and focus their energy on bringing down double-digit inflation and tackling terrorism, said Mehdi Hasan, a prominent political analyst.

'But I am not optimistic,' he said, noting that Pakistan's 60-year history is littered with failed political dawns. 'It will take great efforts for the leaders of the parties to adjust and accommodate each other.'

The outgoing speaker of the National Assembly will swear in the newly elected lawmakers on Monday. Parliament will only get down to the real business of lawmaking once the new government takes office later in the month.

The parties set to lead it, however, have already outlined a set of priorities that will make for uncomfortable news to Mr Musharraf and his Western backers.

The party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto won the most seats in the election. It plans to form a coalition with the party of another former premier, Nawaz Sharif, and a smaller party from the northwest - where Taleban-style militants pose an increasing threat.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has said its top priority will be to seek a UN investigation into her death in a gun-and-suicide-bomb attack on Dec 27.

The coalition also hopes to amend the constitution to strip Mr Musharraf of his power to dissolve the country's parliament and to dismiss the prime minister. The National Security Council, which gives the military a formal say in policy, may also be axed.

The coalition's most explosive plan is the restoration of some 60 senior judges who were purged from the courts by Mr Musharraf when he declared emergency rule last November.

Mr Musharraf swept aside the Supreme Court as it prepared to rule whether he was eligible for the five-year presidential term he won in an October vote in the outgoing parliament.

Few believe he would tolerate the reinstatement of the ousted chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whose defiance of Mr Musharraf's efforts to fire him made him a popular hero. Mr Chaudhry has been under house arrest for more than four months.

But Mr Musharraf has shown no sign of heeding calls from Sharif, the prime minister ousted in Mr Musharraf's 1999 coup, to resign.

A push to return the judges to their posts is fraught with legal uncertainties, particularly if judges who were drafted after the emergency join Mr Musharraf in resisting.

Bhutto's widower and political successor, Asif Ali Zardari, signed an agreement last weekend with Mr Sharif promising to move a parliamentary resolution on the issue within 30 days of the new government taking office. But they have yet to explain how it can be done.

Members of the former ruling party point to how Mr Sharif and Bhutto fought bitterly for power in the 1990s to argue that the newfound unity of their parties could prove short-lived.

A debate is already brewing over who should be prime minister.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a longtime Bhutto loyalist who was the initial front-runner, is resisting pressure from Sharif's party to withdraw from the race.

Meanwhile, Mr Musharraf has found his outside support is diminishing as well.

Just months ago, the United States publicly championed Musharraf as an 'indispensable' ally. Now, officials in the US government barely mention him while working to gain the favor of the newly empowered parties, even though officials say they still intend to work with the former army chief.

Mr Musharraf has appealed to the coalition partners to put aside politics and focus on governing.

He issued an order last year telling courts to terminate long-pending corruption cases against former government officials. A judge quashed the last of seven long-pending cases against Mr Zardari on Friday.

The move was seen at the time as paving the way for a US-brokered deal for Mr Musharraf and Bhutto to govern in tandem, and her successors have been careful not to rule out that possibility - provided they are able to diminish his role first.

'If the parliament is strengthened ... and the presidency is divested of the unconstitutional powers, there may be no incentive to impeach the president,' Mr Babar said. -- AP