Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf must wait at least 10 days for a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his re-election but the court is unlikely to annul his sweeping victory, analysts said yesterday.

As expected, Mr Musharraf won almost all the votes in a presidential election, largely boycotted by the opposition, in Parliament and the four provincial assemblies on Saturday.

The official result has been postponed until the Supreme Court rules on challenges by the opposition who say Mr Musharraf was ineligible to run while army chief even though he has promised to quit the military in weeks.

The opposition also objected to Mr Musharraf being re-elected by outgoing assemblies - where Mr Musharraf's coalition has a majority - just weeks before they are dismissed for a general election due by mid-January.

The court will take up the case again on October 17.

The outcome is of vital interest to the West which wants to see Mr Musharraf maintain nuclear-armed Pakistan's support for efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and tackle al Qaeda.

"Although it's a controversial election, there are lots of problems with it, the parties have been protesting and so on, my guess is it would be very difficult for the Supreme Court to overturn it," said political analyst Shafqat Mahmood.

The Supreme Court, which has been seen as hostile to Mr Musharraf since he tried to dismiss its chief judge in March, had to decide on the eve of the election if it should go ahead.

It ruled it could but a winner would not be declared until it ruled on Mr Musharraf's eligibility.

"The bench having conceded the presidential election should go ahead, had implicitly accepted the propriety (on strictly constitutional/legal grounds) of the outgoing assemblies giving Musharraf a fresh five-year mandate," the Post newspaper said.