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Confident Musharraf says October
polls on party basis

After consolidating his position with the referendum, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's military regime on Wednesday announced holding of the planned general election in October on party basis.

Only a week ago, Musharraf had said he had not yet decided on the issue of holding the election on party basis.

Musharraf has, however, made it clear that exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif would not be permitted to take part in the polls and have to face trial in connection with the corruption cases against them.

As was widely expected, Musharraf secured overwhelming support to remain in office for another five years in a nationwide referendum, slammed by critics as a farce with grave implications for parliamentary elections due in October.

With three quarters of the votes polled in Tuesday's referendum counted, Information Minister Nisar Memon said the 'yes' vote is running at 98 per cent.

Earlier, overruling complaints by mainstream political parties of large scale irregularities, the Election Commission said that with the bulk of the counting nearly completed, Musharraf has secured 36.5 million (3.65 crore) 'yes' votes against 625,000 (6.25 lakh) 'no' votes.

It also said the turnout of the voters in the 'vote anywhere' referendum was an unprecedented 50 per cent, which was a record of sorts in the electoral history of Pakistan.

Mainstream political and religious parties, which boycotted the referendum, said the turnout was abysmally low at five per cent and that 'inflated' official figures only proved their allegation of large scale rigging.

Critics point to Musharraf's instruction to the people to vote anywhere in the country with minimum identity procedures.

If he adopts such 'farcical' methods in the October general elections, it would have grave implications, they said.

According to them, Musharraf wants to use his victory in the referendum to consolidate his hold over power ahead of the elections to the national and provincial assemblies.

In the first independent assessment of the vote, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a damning statement on the conduct of the referendum said irregularities 'exceeded its worst fears'.

"The manner in which the people were hustled into voting and the flagrant abuse of election procedures degraded the very concept of democratic choice," HRCP chairman Afrasiab Khattak said.

Observers, who were supposed to be neutral, had been seen "stamping ballots themselves," Khattak said adding "Voluntary turnout was very low" with public sector employees being obliged to vote.

In London, Commonwealth Secretary General Don Mckinnon said the referendum was not part of the roadmap to democracy and insisted on a full return to constitutional rule in Pakistan.

However, Information Minister Nisar Memon said, "People have given their verdict and those who do not accept this are not supporters of democracy."

"The October elections will be held on party basis as laid down in the constitution," Memon was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan.

The victory of Musharraf, who named himself president in June last year days before his visit to India for the Agra summit, surpassed the results of referendums held by Gen Ayub Khan in 1960 and Gen Zia-ul Haq in 1984.

Both prolonged their rule by suppressing internal democracy.

More reports on Pakistan

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