ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's ruling coalition on Thursday announced it will seek the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, cranking up pressure on the U.S.-backed former general to resign.
Ruling party chief Asif Ali Zardari said the decision is "good news for democracy" in Pakistan.
Announcing a joint coalition statement after two days of talks, he also said the four provincial assemblies should immediately move motions demanding Musharraf take a vote of confidence from lawmakers.
"The coalition further decided that it will immediately initiate impeachment proceedings. The coalition leadership will present a charge sheet against Gen. Musharraf," Zardari told a news conference, along side leaders of the other coalition parties.
Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted as prime minister in Musharraf's 1999 coup and is leader of the second largest coalition party, said, "I agree with what Mr. Zardari has said."
Despite his unpopularity in Pakistan, Musharraf so far has resisted calls to step down and insisted he will serve out his current five-year term after he was elected in a contentious parliamentary vote in October.
He dominated Pakistan for eight years but ceded control of the powerful army last year and has been sidelined in government since the coalition parties trounced his allies in parliamentary elections in February.
Impeaching a president requires a two-thirds majority support of lawmakers in both houses of Parliament. Musharraf loyalists maintain the coalition would struggle to muster it, but Zardari expressed confidence they would succeed.
"We are optimistic that we will succeed," Zardari said. "We hope that 90 percent of the lawmakers will support us."
Tariq Azeem, a spokesman for the main pro-Musharraf opposition party, said it would oppose any impeachment of the president.
"We have backed him and voted [for] him so we are duty-bound to support him. ... We will impose impeachment."
He said there were more pressing issues facing the nation, including "runaway inflation" and sharp hikes in food prices.
Azeem said he did not think the ruling coalition had the numbers in Parliament to impeach Musharraf but conceded "things could go either way."
The ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in the National Assembly, or lower house, but Musharraf's supporters retain about half the seats in the Senate, or upper house.
Click here to read more on this story from the Times of London.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox