Pakistan's newly elected lower house of parliament meets for the first time today in a session that is likely to be remembered for its historical significance in a long time.
President Pervez Musharraf's penchant to remain an all powerful figure despite last month's devastating defeat of his favoured politicians, will still remain an important feature of Pakistan's emerging politics.
But contrary to Musharraf's best expectations of keeping charge conclusively, his ability to do so will weaken as the new parliament gets underway.
The parties opposed to Musharraf which make up the majority ruling alliance in parliament including the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), together have returned to power for the first time in over a decade.
They are likely to insist on independence of authority unlike the past nine years when Musharraf has squarely held the reins of authority.
That there will be a clash of competing interests can indeed be a foregone conclusion. No matter how conciliatory the new ruling parties try to be towards the president, a confrontation will eventually come.
Part of the problem with the relationship in the new parliament will simply be that Musharraf for long has been used to throwing his weight around.
In the past one year, he has recklessly fought a range of interests from the community of senior judges and lawyers to journalists, civil society activists and of course opposition politicians. Musharraf is unlikely to change the way he has been used to get things done.
For the moment, the only possible way to avoid a deadly political clash comes from Musharraf agreeing to step down as president, giving way to fresh presidential elections leading to a head of state who can have a conciliatory relationship with ruling politicians.
Pro-Musharraf politicians eager to save his political future will undoubtedly refer to his five-year term earned through the presidential election last October. But there must also be acceptance that the election in question was one of the most controversial in Pakistan's history.
Unresolved questions surrounding that election included one over the extent to which an Army General - Musharraf's position at the time - could contest for political office. Under Pakistani law, a government employee cannot enter political office for at least two years after stepping down from their official position.
In Musharraf's case, the matter should have been settled in the supreme court where a challenge to the presidential election was being heard when the Pakistani president in November slapped a nationwide state of emergency, apparently to end the tenure of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, chief justice of the supreme court. At the time that Chaudhry was replaced, he was also hearing a petition challenging Musharraf's controversial presidential election.
To make matters worse, Musharraf went on to publicly and forthrightly support the Pakistan Muslim League - Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), the political party which ruled over Pakistan from 2002 to 2007.
Till close to last month's elections, Musharraf's public remarks appeared to establish his tilt against the opposition parties which eventually won the poll.
The PML-Q which has been reduced to no more than a peripheral force as the opposition party in the new parliament, can just not be a source of strength for Musharraf.
If he makes the mistake of reaching out to the PML-Q as the party which principally favours his rule, that would only polarise Pakistan further and create new and deeper fissures surrounding politics.
Uncertain
In this otherwise inherently uncertain situation, Pakistan's new political leaders will find it difficult to conclusively establish their authority. However, they can work to establish their own credentials over and above Musharraf's credentials. There can be a long list of things that can be done to establish such credentials.
A fundamentally vital point however will do well to illustrate this example. On the one hand, the new ruling politicians can begin with the election of key parliamentary offices, notably the speaker and the deputy speaker, by reaching out to politicians from Pakistan's political peripheral areas.
This will be in contrast to at least part of Musharraf's legacy. The PML-Q largely represented interests of the Punjab which is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, while the province of Balochistan - the least developed region, found itself practically marginalised from high positions of government.
Farhan Bokhari is a Pakistan-based commentator who writes on political and economic matters.
