Islamabad: Pakistan has rejected as "untrue" European Union (EU) charges that the voting process in the elections was flawed, as an anti-US Islamic alliance loomed large over a new hung Parliament.

"Accusations that authorities interfered with the electoral process were indeed unfortunate. This is just not true," a statement released late on October 12 by the Ministry of Information said.

A preliminary EU report by the 88-strong observer team said that the interference resulted in "serious flaws" in Pakistan's first general elections since President Pervez Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999.

"There was no such policy or plan," the government statement said. The head of the EU observer mission John Cushnahan has charged that candidates had unequal access to state media, that a government ban on political rallies curbed freedoms, and called the Election Commission's impartiality into question.

"The allegation against the person of the president as having 'imposed serious restrictions on campaign activities' together with (a local official) is baseless," the government said.

Meanwhile, parties on October 13 began weighing their future in the new national Assembly, which saw a radical Islamic alliance score big, but gave no single party an absolute majority.

The hung Parliament ensures that horse-trading among the various factions jockeying for a role in a future government or in turn might end up in the Opposition, is about to begin, analysts said.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), founded only 18 months ago, led the other parties on 78 seats. It was followed by banned ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with 63 seats.

The surprise success of the six-party Islamic alliance Muttahidda Majlils-e-Amal (MMA, or United Action Front) is what has really changed the political landscape in Pakistan, however.