Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said that the participation of the two major opposition parties at the election in January 8 will pressure the governments to make the vote fair or rig it.

Bhutto welcomed the participation of Nawaz Sharif’s party in the parliamentary elections who said that it will drop the boycott plans.

Bhutto said: “When the country's two major parties take part the government will be forced either to hold free and fair elections ... or it will be compelled to do more rigging and that will expose them,” International Herald Tribune reports.

Sharif tried to plan a boycott together with Bhutto, but he couldn’t convince her.

They failed to reach an agreement regarding the freedom of the judges disposed by President Pervez Musharraf after he declared the emergency rule.

On Monday Sharif announced that his party would participate in the election.

Bhutto said to reporters after her trip to Dubai that although her party was participating at the election, the opposition must prepare if the vote turns out to be rigged.

She said: "We should start preparations now. What are we going to do on January 9 if elections on January 8 are not fair and free? If we start preparation now, it will again put pressure on the government to hold fair elections."

So far only two small parties said that it will boycott the election: Jamaat-e-Islami religious party and the former cricket star Imran Khan’s party.

The other party that will participate in the election is the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) which ruled until November that’s when a caretaker administration took over to supervise the polls.

Bhutto asked for a neutral caretaker administration and election commission.

Opposition parties said that the election will be rigged and that Paksitan’s ruling party will win the January election.

Pakistan Muslim League-Q party is loyal to Musharraf and is expected to be favored at the vote.

The head of the caretaker government is a senator from the PML-Q party and many local administrators are also part of that allegiance.

PML-Q denied these accusations.

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said: "The elections have not been held and they have started crying about the rigging. Those who talked about the rigging want to see elections postponed," USA Today quotes.

Musharraf declared that he is ready to work with any party.

He said: "I would like to try to work with anyone who comes to power after the elections."