The country's ruling party assured President Pervez Musharraf that he would be elected by national and provincial lawmakers to a new five-year term in October before exiled opposition leader Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan.
Bhutto, the ex-prime minister who plans to come home Oct. 18 after eight years in self-imposed exile, had urged Musharraf to resign as army chief and delay the presidential vote until after parliamentary elections to be held by mid-January.
