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Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:48:56 -0400 (EDT)
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Pakistan announces change in election rule that could favor Musharraf
The Associated Press
Monday, September 17, 2007
Pakistan's Election Commission announced on Monday a rule change that would apparently allow President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to seek a new five-year term without resigning first as army chief.
Opposition parties decried the move as a brazen violation of the Constitution and accused the U.S.-allied military leader of trying to bulldoze away legal obstacles to his remaining in office.
Musharraf seized power in 1999 after a decade of chaotic civilian rule and pledged to eradicate Islamic extremism and bring "real" democracy to Pakistan. But he has yet to say publicly when he will give up his parallel position as army chief, the main source of his authority.
On Monday, the Election Commission said it had changed a rule for the presidential vote, which is due by Oct. 15, so that an article of the Constitution barring government employees â€" such as army officials â€" from running no longer applies.
"The chief election commissioner of Pakistan has made the requisite amendment, with the approval of the president," the commission said in a statement.
The move appeared to signal Musharraf's determination to extend his rule and dimmed the promise of already-stalled talks between Musharraf and exiled former leader Benazir Bhutto on a potential power-sharing deal.
It could also deepen divisions within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party and pile pressure on the Supreme Court to guide Pakistan away from a political crisis that some fear could lead to street protests and martial law.
In addition to his political woes, Musharraf is struggling to respond to the resurgence of Taliban and al-Qaida militants and a spate of suicide bombings.
In the latest violence, the army said it had lost touch Monday with 16 soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border hours after they reported killing 14 militants in a battle.
Musharraf's standing has plummeted since March, when he tried to fire the country's independent-minded chief justice, sparking a pro-democracy campaign.
He retook the political initiative last week by sidelining former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man he toppled eight years ago in a bloodless coup, by sending him back into exile in Saudi Arabia.
However, in doing that, he set up another showdown with the Supreme Court that had earlier ruled that Sharif could return to Pakistan.
Bhutto forecast that the change in the election rules would further enrage the lawyers who mounted a determined and well-organized campaign for the reinstatement the chief justice.
"All political parties, irrespective of whether they were moderates or religious, regional or national, came together to back the lawyers and their movement and I think the same would happen again," Bhutto told The Associated Press late Sunday, when Pakistani media first reported the rule change.
Bhutto said her party may join other opposition groups in resigning from Parliament. She said that for Musharraf to seek re-election in uniform would be "illegal."
Bhutto and Musharraf have discussed a pact including constitutional amendments to remove legal problems with his running again and let her return and seek a third term as prime minister in parliamentary elections due by January.
But negotiations have snagged amid opposition from right-wingers in the ruling party who could be eclipsed if Bhutto makes a triumphant return.
Monday's announcement by the five-member Election Commission, whose chief is appointed by the president, seemed to remove the need for such a pact.
The commission said it was updating its rules to reflect Supreme Court rulings in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 of the Constitution did not apply to Musharraf.
The article bars civil servants, including members of the military, from running for elected office. It also says that former civil servants must wait for two years before they become eligible. Some argue that makes Musharraf ineligible even if he quits as army chief.
The 2002 and 2005 court cases challenged the legality of Musharraf's presidency, including his holding of the office of president and army chief at the same time.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of a six-party coalition of Islamist opposition parties, said the latest move could destabilize Pakistan by discrediting the Election Commission.
"Gen. Musharraf is not getting off the bulldozer he has been riding" since toppling Sharif, Ahmed told AP. "Now he is bent upon further ruining the Constitution."
"We will block his way through street power and through every available forum," he said.
However, Mushahid Hussain, the ruling party's secretary general, forecast that Musharraf would step down as army chief shortly after winning the presidential vote.
"I expect him to be sworn in as a civilian president," Hussain said, but added: "It's my own personal view. I'm not in the government."
He declined to comment on the Election Commission's decision because it would likely be challenged in court.
On Monday, the Supreme Court resumed hearing six petitions, including one filed by Ahmed's Jamaat-e-Islami party, on Musharraf's eligibility to run again. Its eventual verdict could override the decision of the Election Commission.
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Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Sadaqat Jan contributed to this report.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/17/asia/AS-POL-Pakistan-Politics.php
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