Ruling party ready to elect Musharraf for another term

PAKISTAN: Pakistan’s ruling party assured President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he would be elected to a new five-year term in a vote likely to take place in the first week of October, party officials said.

Also Saturday, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto urged Musharraf to wait until after parliamentary elections that must be held by mid-January. She said he should resign as army chief first in respect of the Constitution.

The president is chosen by an electoral college of all national and provincial lawmakers. Musharraf, whose term expires Nov. 15, wants to seek re-election from the current assemblies where he enjoys a majority, since the next parliament may be less supportive.

With an announcement of the date for the presidential election from the Election Commission imminent, top leaders from the ruling party met with Musharraf to tell him they had enough votes to elect him, an official at the president’s office said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The meeting came a day after Bhutto’s party announced she would return to Pakistan on Oct. 18 after eight years of exile to help restore democracy.

In an interview broadcast Saturday, she urged Musharraf to quit his army position before contesting the election.

“It is our preference that whosoever wishes to contest for the presidency, whether Gen. Musharraf or somebody else, should do it from the next assembly, and it should be a civilian who contests the ... presidential election from the next assembly,” she told Pakistan’s Dawn News TV channel.

“We want to take the country back slowly but surely to the Constitution that existed before the military coup,” Bhutto said.

The ruling party dismissed Bhutto’s suggestions.

“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 with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party.

Earlier, 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.

While the ruling coalition says it has enough support in Parliament to get the simple majority to re-elect Musharraf, the support of Bhutto’s party would help achieve the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional amendments that could head off legal challenges to his taking office for another five years.

The government says that on her return, Bhutto will not suffer the fate of Sharif, who was swiftly expelled when he came back from exile Monday. But officials said she would have to face pending corruption charges.

Meanwhile Pakistan’s opposition parties cautiously welcomed Bhutto’s decision to return from exile, but hoped she would not strike a deal with President Pervez Musharraf.

Leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party said her planned return was “good news.”

“Bhutto should avoid making any power-sharing deal as that would hurt the democratic struggle,” PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told AFP.

A central leader of Pakistan’s powerful Islamic alliance, Liaqat Baluch, said he would oppose Bhutto’s return under a deal with Musharraf.

“Otherwise her decision to come back to Pakistan is correct,” Baluch said.

Islamabad, Sunday, AP, AFP