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Islamabad: Pakistan yesterday postponed parliamentary polls until February 18 following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, which sparked days of unrest that left dozens of people dead.
The 40-day postponement of the polls was announced by chief election commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq at a crowded news conference after a three-day meeting of the election commission.
Due to the "ground realities" it was not possible to hold the elections on January 8 as previously scheduled, Farooq said.
He said "informal consultation" was held with important political parties and reports from provinces were also taken into account before the decision to delay the polls.
But the chief election commissioner did not identify the parties that were consulted, saying there was an "element of confidentiality" involved in the matter.
Muharram
The election commission chief said the new date was set also keeping in view the forthcoming Islamic month of Muharram, which is due to start from January 10.
He appealed to the heads of all political parties to "accept the delay in polls in the larger national interest and vigorously participate in elections".
"I assure all political parties that elections would be transparent in all manners," he pledged.
"Benazir's assassination had not only affected the law and order situation but also hampered the smooth functioning of the election offices," Farooq said.
The election is seen as Pakistan's crucial next step in the transition to civilian-led democratic rule under Musharraf, a close ally in the US-led "war on terror" who stepped down from his other post as army chief just weeks ago.
Senior officials had confirmed since Monday that the vote would be delayed, but the public announcement was held up by consultations with the main parties amid an uproar over the delay and the government response to Bhutto's death.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the country's largest, has condemned the delay as an attempt by the government to give Musharraf's allies time to rig the vote, but said it would stand nonetheless.
"We are taking part," said Nabil Gabol, a member of the party's central executive committee.
Unfair
The other main opposition party of former premier Nawaz Sharif also criticised the postponement as "unfair" but said it would not boycott the polls.
But with Musharraf under pressure to hold free and fair elections that will cap nearly a year of political turmoil and an unprecedented wave of violence, analysts said there would be doubts about the decision to delay.
"The credibility of the election commission is more in doubt now," said Rasul Baksh Rais, a political scientist at the country's Lahore University of Management Sciences. "It is neither independent nor free."
- With inputs from agencies
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