Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Wednesday her talks with President Pervez Musharraf on a possible power-sharing deal were “totally stalled” and she expected her party’s Members of Parliament to resign.

“Most probably”, she said when asked if that would be the decision. “I think that the resignation of the Pakistan Peoples Party MPs will be a severe blow to the legitimacy of the presidential elections,” she told reporters in London.

Parliament and provincial assemblies are expected on Saturday to re-elect Musharraf as President. More than 80 Opposition members of Parliament have resigned in protest against his standing for re-election while Army Chief.

Although the PPP is the largest Opposition faction it is not in a position to stop his re-election. But it could damage the credibility of the process if it boycotted the vote.

“We don’t want to resign. We don’t want to take this step, but certainly we are being pushed into taking this step by the inability of the present regime to move towards the democratisation of Pakistan,” Bhutto said. She said she expected the final decision to be taken by her party later on Thursday.

“The Peoples Party is not in the business of saving military dictatorships. We want to save democracy,” Bhutto said.

Bhutto, who plans to return home from self-imposed exile on October 18, said the understanding with Musharraf, which was being reached, was “very near” at the end of last month. “But since then it’s been totally stalled.”

“The present regime cannot salvage the situation...I’m afraid we are heading for a situation that could lead to street agitation,” she said. Dismissing the amnesty offer, Bhutto said “it’s absolutely wrong, the news that corruption charges have been dropped ... It’s a typical disinformation campaign.” It is designed “to cause controversy and confusion,” Bhutto said.