ISLAMABAD, April 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The first results in Pakistan's referendum to extend General Pervez Musharraf's presidency for five years showed a heavy vote favoring the military ruler, election officials said early Wednesday.

In southwestern Baluchistan province six districts recorded an overwhelming 98 percent vote in favor of Musharraf.

Some 27,791 votes out of a total of 28,468 cast in Noshki district were in support of the general, with similar figures recorded in Umara, Buleda, Mawand Jeevani and Dera Bugti districts.

An official result is not expected to be announced until Wednesday.

Musharraf, who named himself president in June last year, hopes to legitimize his position ahead of general elections scheduled for October.

"I feel good and I feel confident," he told reporters after casting his vote in Rawalpindi, adding however that he had never before run in any kind of election campaign. "I am hopeful - I have no experience of these things."

Opposition political and religious parties, however, urged their followers to boycott the vote, accusing Musharraf of shredding the 1973 constitution and trying to manipulate the outcome.

As voting closed at 7:00 pm (1300 GMT), they said the turnout was an embarrassing failure for the general, with as little as 6.0 percent of the electorate participating, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Today the people of Pakistan have given their verdict against General Musharraf," said Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, chief of the 15-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.

"We demand he should immediately step down and let there be an interim civilian set-up to run the affairs of the country till October elections."

State-run television, which broadcast festive scenes of voter participation throughout the day, reported an overwhelming response in favor of Musharraf.

However, Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said "we think that the overall turnout is not more than 6.0 percent".

Pakistani Information Minister Nisar Memon described the opposition's claims as "hilarious", adding he expected a turnout of at least double the 16 percent of votes gained by the government in 1997 general elections.

"Unofficial sources indicate it will be much more than that and I would not be surprised if it is twice this size."

Bhutto, who fled into exile before her conviction for corruption in 1998, told the News daily the turnout would be a key indicator of Musharraf's political staying power.

"If people boycott the referendum, it means that he has lost," said the PPP leader.

The question on the ballot card links the vote to the continuation of Musharraf's reforms, including a drive against corruption, the revival of the economy, a clampdown on religious extremism and a return to democracy.