An announcement on the date from the Election Commission is imminent, the officials said Saturday - a day after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party announced she would return to Pakistan on Oct. 18. after an eight-year exile to help restore democracy.

"As far as the ruling party is concerned, we have finalized our strategy to elect the president for another five-year term ... we have enough votes to easily elect President Musharraf for another term," said Azeem Chaudhry, a senior official in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party.

Two ruling party officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the vote would take place in the first week of October, ignoring the suggestion of Bhutto, who wanted Musharraf to seek a vote from the new Parliament after the parliamentary elections.

The president, whose term expires Nov. 15, is elected by an electoral college of all national and provincial lawmakers. The five-year term for the current Parliament expires later this year.

Musharraf has seen his popularity slide this year after he tried to remove the Supreme Court's popular chief judge and Islamic militants stepped up attacks. But the ruling coalition says it has enough support to get the simple majority needed to re-elect Musharraf, who also holds the post of army chief.

The officials said a delegation from the ruling party - headed by its chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain - assured Musharraf on Saturday that they would elect him for another term.

Chaudhry said during negotiations with Musharraf, Bhutto had demanded too much from the government in return for backing the military leader, including that the constitution be amended so she could become prime minister for a third term if her party wins parliamentary elections - due by January 2008.

"If we do it, it will send a signal that Benazir Bhutto is the future prime minister, and in this situation who will vote for us?" Chaudhry said.

On Friday, Bhutto's party announced the two-time former prime minister who left the country in 1999 amid corruption allegations will return home on Oct. 18 to campaign in the parliamentary elections, regardless of the outcome of her talks with Pakistan's U.S.-allied military leader.