Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, swept to victory in a presidential election on Saturday, as a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people in the northwest.

Investors hope the election will bring some stability after months of political turmoil that has helped drag stocks and the rupee sharply lower.

Members of the two-chamber parliament and four provincial assemblies voted on a replacement for deeply unpopular Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month.

Zardari, who had been widely expected to win, had secured 458 out of 702 electoral college votes, according to unofficial and partial Election Commission results.

'It's not only a victory for Zardari and the Pakistan People's Party but it's a victory for ... Benazir Bhutto's dream of a democratic political system,' said Bhutto party spokeswoman Farzana Raja as party workers chanted 'long live Bhutto'.

Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack on December 27 weeks after returning from years in exile. Her party now holds the presidency and leads the government.

Zardari, known as a polo-playing playboy in his younger days, will have to contend with a host of problems that have raised fears for the prospects of the nuclear-armed US ally, including militant violence and an economy in tatters.

Underscoring the danger, a suicide car-bomber attacked a police post in the city of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people, five of them policemen, and wounding about 40.-Reuters