Rice said she was impressed by Zardari's views on the challenges facing Pakistan [AFP]

Rice told reporters travelling with her in north Africa on Saturday that she was looking forward to working with Zardari.

She said she had spoken to him on the telephone but had not met him yet.

"Now with a new president, I think we have got a good way forward," Rice said.

"I was impressed by some of the things that he said about the challenges that Pakistan faces, about the centrality of fighting terrorism, and about the fact that the terrorism fight is Pakistan's fight and also his very strong words of friendship and alliance with the United States."
  
Zardari is co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, formerly led by his wife, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007.

Fragile coalition

Zardari's party already heads a fragile coalition government which, although still in office, recently lost the backing of Sharif's party.

He defeated retired chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, who was backed by Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, and Mushahid Hussain, a close aide of Pervez Musharraf, who resigned weeks ago as Pakistani president.

Australia, an ally of the US in its ongoing "war on terorism", also welcomed the "democratic resolution" of Pakistan's leadership.

It urged Zardari on Sunday to focus on security issues, particularly in the Afghan border region.

"That's good in the sense the Pakistani democratic and  parliamentary process has resolved that without a need for intervention from the military so we welcome that," Stephen Smith, the Australian foreign minister, told Sky News.

Australia has about 1,000 troops in Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan.

Zardari, 53, is expected to  be sworn in as Pakistan's president on Monday.

In a short television address, Zardari said his triumph was a victory for democracy, a reference to Musharraf, an army general whose August 18 resignation set the stage for the election.

Zardari will take charge of a country that has been riven by the Pakistani Taliban fighting, with nearly 1,200 people killed in bombings and suicide attacks in the past year.

The problem was underscored in the northwestern city of Peshawar during voting on Saturday, when a suicide car-bomber rammed a police checkpost killing 16 people and wounding more than 80.

High inflation

The economy is also in trouble with rampant inflation and a plunging stock market that has lost around 40 per cent of its value since January, in a country already reliant on foreign aid.

Talat Masood, a Pakistani political analyst, said that it was "ironic that Zardari is going to be Pakistan's president".

"A wave of events have pushed him into this position from spouse to the president of Pakistan.

"There is no doubt he has a controversial past and his reputation is soiled. He will have to work very hard to improve his reputation."

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