Pakistan ? The Bush administration may be relieved, but some Pakistanis fear the worst when Pakistan’s parliament meets Saturday for the almost certain election of Asif Ali Zardari as president, succeeding the ousted former military leader Pervez Musharraf.

Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has signaled that he’ll align closely with Washington in the war on terrorism, but analysts and politicians said that the controversies that surrounded him could lead to further instability in the nuclear-armed country.

Zardari and his Pakistan People’s Party have said that they plan to “re-balance” the powers between the president and the prime minister, the official who’s supposed to run the government. Until that happens – if it happens – Zardari, who as party boss appointed the current prime minister, will be the dominant political figure in Pakistan.