Musharraf refusing to step down.

From AP at MSNBC:

President Pervez Musharraf will not step down as head of state and intends to serve out his five-year-term, his spokesman says, despite a sweeping election victory by his opponents — some of whom want to drive him from power.

His justification?

Musharraf’s spokesman Rashid Qureshi:

"The people on Monday didn’t vote to elect a new president," he said. "In fact, they participated in the elections to elect the new parliament.

This is going to be a big story.  Will Musharraf work with his parliament the way Bush works with congress?

Pakistan’s new leaders must also decide how to deal with Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and went on to become a key ally in the U.S. war on terror, another unpopular move in the Muslim nation of 160 million.

My guess is that Musharraf took power by coup and will probably lose it the same way.

But the former general is so unpopular among the Pakistani public that opposition parties are likely to find little reason to work with him — particularly since he no longer controls the powerful army.