The near-unanimous nature of Musharraf's victory was made possible by the absence of two key political opposition leaders, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.

[5] Musharraf and both of his major opponents (Ahmed and Fahim) were approved, along with three others;[6] the official list of candidates was announced to be publicised on 1 October 2007.

80 opposition party members had resigned from parliament, protesting that Musharraf was running for re-election while remaining head of the army.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, led by Benazir Bhutto, only abstained from the vote—a move that prevented the vote from being invalid.

[9] Complete results were announced only 80 minutes after the five-hours-long voting process had been finished, with 685 of the 1,170 eligible lawmakers participating.