"Gen Pervez Musharraf will almost certainly succeed in orchestrating his 're-election' today as President of Pakistan --but it will be an ugly victory," The Washington Post said in a hard-hitting editorial "Pakistan's Tainted Election".

It pointed that the national Parliament and provincial legislatures which form the electoral college ‘have little legitimacy, because they were chosen in rigged elections four years ago’.

Taking a snipe at the General, the daily said, "in a "genuine democratic election, Musharraf would have no chance of extending his eight years in power, which began with a military coup."

In a few months, Pakistan could be governed by a troika of Musharraf, Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto or another civilian Prime Minister, and the likely new army commander, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, the Post said but expressed fears that the whole process may involve ‘very little democracy’.

"Already tainted, the general's mandate will also be tenuous: Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the result cannot be certified until it rules on whether Mr Musharraf is violating the constitution by entering the election without stepping down as Army commander in chief.