Musharraf Sweeps Pakistan Election
BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Unofficial results showed Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf sweeping Saturday's presidential election, but the Supreme Court could still disqualify the military leader.
The election by federal and provincial lawmakers was a one-sided affair. Opposition parties abstained or boycotted to protest Musharraf's running for a new five-year term while still army chief.
Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq announced that Musharraf had won 252 of the 257 votes cast in Parliament, with three ballots judged invalid and two votes going to his main rival, retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmad.
Pakistan Television reported unofficial results that Musharraf had also swept the voting in three of Pakistan's four provinces. Counting was still under way in the fourth province of Sindh.
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the official results can only be declared after it rules on complaints lodged by Musharraf's opponents that his candidacy is unconstitutional.
Ruling-party lawmakers were claiming victory even before counting began. Only a handful of the government's opponents were among the 691 lawmakers who turned out to vote.
"He will be elected with a vast majority," Privatization Minister Wasi Zafar told The Associated Press. "God willing we will enter full democracy."
But the opposition said the ballot was invalid.
"We will not accept him as president. He flouted the constitution, and he is a person who has hardly any respect for the rule of law," said Sadique ul-Farooq, a senior leader of the party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Hearings on the petitions challenging Musharraf's candidacy will resume on Oct. 17, meaning if Musharraf wins he would have to wait at least 11 days before knowing whether he could take office.
His current presidential term expires Nov. 15.
Musharraf has seen his popularity plummet since a failed bid to oust the country's top judge in March, and has promised to give up his powerful army post if he wins the election and restore civilian rule.
He says he wants to stay on to continue policies that have turned around Pakistan's economy despite its position on the front line of the American-led war on terrorism.
It appears likely he will form an alliance with exiled Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after parliamentary elections due by January. On Friday, Musharraf signed into law an amnesty quashing corruption charges against her and other politicians.
Bhutto's party abstained from Saturday's voting but did not resign from Parliament as other opposition factions did over Musharraf's candidacy, that has also angered civil society activists.
Chanting slogans against Musharraf, dozens of lawyers clashed with police outside the provincial assembly in the northwestern city of Peshawar. They burned an armored police vehicle, threw rocks at officers, and burned an effigy of Musharraf before police swinging batons dispersed them.
Three lawyers and a policeman were injured in the clash, witnesses said.
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