Musharraf party leaders lose

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's ruling party was headed toward a big defeat Tuesday in parliamentary elections.

Among those losing in Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q party were party President Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and National Assembly Speaker Amir Hussain, Dawn newspaper reported.

Both lost to candidates of Pakistan People's Party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf's party was getting a drubbing in both the National Assembly as well as in the four provincial assembly polls mainly from Bhutto's PPP and a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, led by another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.

Musharraf himself wasn't a candidate, having been re-elected last year to another term as president.

While no single party may win a clear majority in Monday's election, the two main opposition parties could form a coalition. If the two can muster a two-thirds majority, they could threaten Musharraf with an impeachment.

Prior to the election, those polls were dismissed as biased by Musharraf and his party but on Tuesday, Musharraf told on state-run television, "We must accept the result gracefully." Dawn reported.