Pakistan coalition sweeps polls in Musharraf boost

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s ruling coalition said on
Sunday it had swept the first round of local polls seen as a
trial run for 2007 general elections, boosting President Pervez
Musharraf’s own election prospects.

However, opponents of the pro-military government denounced
results from Thursday’s vote for local councillors in 53 of
Pakistan’s 110 districts as rigged.

In announcing the results late on Saturday, the Election
Commission did not give political affiliations of the winners
in the officially non-party elections, but political groups
openly backed candidates to try to ensure their power bases.

The Pakistan Muslim League faction heading Musharraf’s
government said candidates backed by the ruling coalition swept
the polls in three of Pakistan’s four provinces.

Tariq Azim Khan, the spokesman for the ruling party, said
they also improved their position in North West Frontier
Province, which is ruled by an opposition Islamic alliance.

“For sure we have got majorities in Punjab and Baluchistan.
We and our allies are leading in Sindh,” he told Reuters.

The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party of self-exiled former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto accused the government of rigging
the polls to ensure the success of pro-government candidates.

“The federal and provincial ministers pressurised election
officials to recount the votes where our candidates have won
with big margins,” said Raza Rabbani, leader of the opposition
in parliament’s upper house and a senior aide to Bhutto.

“It looks that the Election Commission is colluding with
the ruling party to alter the results,” he told Reuters.

However, he said the opposition would still take part in
elections being held in remaining districts on August 25.

“We want to expose the fallacy of their claim that a free
and fair elections can be held under the current dispensation.”

BOOST FOR MUSHARRAF

Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and
who took power in a bloodless 1999 coup, introduced district
polls in 2002, saying they were meant to create grassroots
democracy.

The councillors will elect powerful district and
sub-district chiefs, known as Nazims, who can use their
political clout to influence voting in 2007 general elections.

The parliament and four provincial assemblies formed from
those polls will elect the national president later in 2007 and
Musharraf is widely expected to win.

At least 16 people were killed and hundreds injured in
violence between rival supporters during the voting.

Khan said it was too early to say how many seats the ruling
coalition had won but it had also fared well in NWFP, the only
region ruled by the opposition.

Banded together under the name of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal,
the Islamist parties became the largest opposition bloc after
big gains in 2002 general elections, partly due to
anti-American sentiment fueled by the U.S.-led war in
neighbouring Afghanistan.

Local media reports suggested the MMA’s dominance in North
West Frontier was also reduced by the opposition Awami National
Party, which seeks more regional autonomy.