Pakistan tense as poll starts

Pakistani opposition politicians warned against vote rigging yesterday, the eve of a general election that could usher in a parliament intent on forcing US ally President Pervez Musharraf from power.

Fears of militant violence have overshadowed the campaign, and are expected to result in a low turnout.

A suicide bomber killed 47 people in an attack on supporters of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday. The election was postponed after Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack on Dec 27 as she left a rally in Rawalpindi.

Her death heightened concern about the nuclear-armed country's future, with Al-Qaida intent on destabilizing the Muslim nation of 160 million people.

It is not a presidential election but how much support former army chief Musharraf can get is expected to be a decisive factor in today's vote for a new parliament and provincial assemblies.

The opposition, however, says pre-poll rigging has damaged their chances.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, and the other main opposition party, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), have vowed to launch protests if they are robbed of victory.

Street protests over the result would raise questions about how the powerful military might react.

But if the opposition does as well as opinion polls suggest, a hostile parliament could challenge the constitutionality of Musharraf's re-election in October for another five-year term by the last parliament.

That too could herald turmoil.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/18/2008 page6)