Lawmakers in Pakistan's national and provincial assemblies on Saturday voted in a disputed Presidential poll in which Pervez Musharraf is seeking a new five-year term in uniform amid violent protests by lawyers in the northwestern city of Peshawar against the General's candidature.
The National Assembly and Senate, the two houses of Parliament, as well as four provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) constitute the electoral college for the key poll.
Ahead of the voting, members of the national and provincial assemblies from several opposition parties resigned in protest against the re-election bid of Musharraf, who is expected to register a victory with the backing of the ruling PML-Q and its allies.
In Peshawar, lawyers staged a protest outside the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) assembly, clashing with police and setting afire a vehicle of the security personnel.
The lawyers, who have been at the forefront of protests against Musharraf, shouted slogans against the military ruler.
The opposition All-Party Democratic Movement (APDM) alliance led by deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party and lawyers have a called for a shutdown and a 'Black Day' to protest Musharraf's candidature.
Former Premier Benazir Bhutto-led main opposition Pakistan's Peoples Party (PPP), which has fielded Makhdoom Amin Fahim as its candidate, decided to abstain from the voting, party Parliamentarian Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.
Fahim told the National Assembly before the voting that his party would not vote for Musharraf as he was contesting without quitting the post of army chief. Later, he led PPP members as they walked out of the House.
