ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: President Pervez Musharraf has said that the parties winning majority will be asked to form governments at the centre and in the provinces.

“Nobody should have any doubt about that,” he told reporters after casting his vote at a polling station near his camp office in Rawalpindi on Monday.

Describing the Monday’s election as a ‘historic landmark’, the president said he had fulfilled his pledge to hold free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.

He said he wanted the politics of reconciliation to replace the politics of confrontation. “We must come out of the politics of confrontation and get into the conciliatory mode,” he said.

The president said he saw the winning party forming the government “without any problem” and a good future for the country once the newly elected government started functioning in a democratic and fair manner.

He expressed the hope that the new government would complete its five-year term and said he wanted it to work for development and combat terrorism. “I see a very stable future and good governance during the next five years.”

He accused some parties and individuals of casting doubts about the whole election process and said they were serving their own interest and destabilising the country and derailing the democratic process.

He said he would like to ask the media and the people of Pakistan to question those who were saying that elections would not be held, “casting aspersions on me and the government”.

He claimed that his statements and the government’s stand regarding the elections stood vindicated.

He asked his critics not to tarnish the country’s name by casting doubts about the fairness of the polls. “I would certainly congratulate all individuals and political parties who would win their elections. All those who win should show humility and those who lose should show grace by accepting the results.”

Later during a meeting with US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, the president reaffirmed that the winning party or a coalition would form the next government. He said he would work with the new government in accordance with the Constitution which, he added, was based on a parliamentary system and there was no conflict between the roles of the president and the prime minister.

According to an official statement, the Congresswoman appreciated the president’s policies, especially for empowering women and promoting a vibrant free media.

Ms Lee also praised the role of Pakistan in fighting terrorism and paid tribute to the sacrifices rendered by its armed forces.