ISLAMABAD (Thomson Financial) - Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf is likely to swear himself in as a civilian president 'early next week,' a top government official said Thursday after a key Supreme Court ruling.
Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum said Musharraf was waiting for the nation's top court to issue a written version of its judgment, which earlier Thursday swept away the last challenge to the president's re-election.
Only after that verdict is given to the election commission can it formally declare Musharraf as winner of the October 6 vote. The chief justice has said the written order would be issued on Friday.
'My assessment is that he will take oath as civilian president early next week,' Qayyum told Agence France-Presse. 'The chief justice will administer the oath.'
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has ruled Pakistan since then while holding the post of army chief as well as president.
But facing intense international pressure, he had vowed to resign from the army and become a civilian leader as soon as the Supreme Court validated his October 6 re-election.
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