Pakistan's Supreme Court, stacked with judges friendly to President Pervez Musharraf, yesterday threw out a final challenge to his re-election and paved the way for him to quit as army chief.
The long-awaited ruling comes as the 53-nation Commonwealth suspended Pakistan, the second time since General Musharraf took power in a bloodless 1999 coup, because he has resisted calls to fully lift emergency rule imposed on November 3 by yesterday.
"Dismissed," Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar said after hearing the petition, the sixth and final challenge to Musharraf's October 6 re-election to be thrown out by the court.
Attorney General Malik Qayyum said before the ruling he expected President Musharraf to be sworn in for a second term "by the weekend or immediately thereafter".
General Musharraf repeatedly promised to relinquish his army post and be sworn in as a civilian leader for a second five-year term in what he calls a transition to civilian-led democracy once his re-election had been endorsed by the court.
While critical of his actions, the US has given leeway to General Musharraf, an ally in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban, to put things right before a general election on January 8 that the opposition may boycott.
Amid fears the Supreme Court would rule against him on the re-election challenges, President Musharraf declared emergency rule nearly three weeks ago, suspended the Constitution, sacked the chief justice and purged the court, installing more amenable judges. The move drew widespread international condemnation.
The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), charged with reviewing Pakistan's membership, said General Musharraf had not yet lifted emergency rule and had failed to stand down as army chief.
"The situation in Pakistan continues to represent a serious violation of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values."
CMAG had, therefore, "suspended Pakistan forthwith from the Commonwealth pending the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in that country", the organisation's Secretary-General Don McKinnon told a news conference in Kampala.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Mr Musharraf had told him "he will do his utmost to lift the state of emergency in time for free and fair elections to be held and to give up his military role and responsibilities as soon as possible".
Western governments fear that stifling democracy could play into the hands of Islamist militants.
President Musharraf has started to roll back the emergency, freeing around 5,000 lawyers, opposition and rights activists detained in a round-up of opponents. Those freed include Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, who called for a poll boycott.
"It's a complete fraud. Participating in this election would mean giving legitimacy to Musharraf's violation of the constitution," Mr Khan said, calling for the reinstatement of deposed judges.
Many of the judges and leading lawyers who represented the strongest challenge to President Musharraf's authority are still in prison or under house arrest.
President Musharraf remains in danger of political isolation. Opposition parties led by Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister whom Mr Musharraf allowed back to Pakistan, and Nawaz Sharif, the premier he deposed eight year ago and has kept exiled in Saudi Arabia, have yet to come up with a common strategy.
An opposition boycott could undermine the poll's credibility, but Mrs Bhutto may not want to give Mr Musharraf's allies a walkover.