Pakistan Excludes President From Election Restriction

[Awesome]

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan excluded the president from a restriction on public servants standing in elections, removing an obstacle to Pervez Musharraf seeking a second five-year term in a ballot to be held before Oct. 15.

The Election Commission's ruling affects article 63 of the Constitution that bars government employees from being candidates unless they have been retired from their jobs for two years.

The article no longer applies to the president, the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, the commission secretary, as saying in Islamabad yesterday. The date of the presidential election will be announced in the next two to three days, he added.

Musharraf, 64, is facing the most widespread opposition since he took power in a military coup in 1999. A Supreme Court panel today considered an opposition petition that Musharraf isn't entitled to stand for re-election while he maintains the post of army chief.

Musharraf is seeking a new term in a ballot that must be held between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. National and provincial legislatures choose the president. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held by Jan. 15.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-i-Azam party has endorsed Musharraf as its candidate, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said yesterday, according to a government statement released in Islamabad. Musharraf's re-election ``would ensure continuity and consistency of leadership and policies essential for future progress and prosperity of Pakistan,'' he said.

Opposition Action

Opposition parties yesterday vowed to block Musharraf's re- election, the Associated Press reported.

``He is not eligible to be elected and the present assemblies are not eligible to elect anybody like him,'' AP cited Raja Zafarul Haq, a member of the All Parties Democratic Movement, an alliance of 32 groups, as saying yesterday.

The nine-member panel of judges may complete the hearing by Sept. 21, the second most senior judge Rana Bhagwandas, who heads the panel, said in the court today. Earlier, the court rejected an application by the petitioner to add more judges to the panel.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry constituted the new panel to hear a challenge that was lodged by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, an Islamic opposition leader. Chaudhry, who was earlier part of a seven-member bench, excluded himself from the new panel.

Ahmed's petition says that under military regulations, Musharraf is too old to be eligible to head the army and isn't allowed under the Constitution to stand for a second five-year term as president while keeping that post.

Protests, Bhutto

Protests against Musharraf's rule have swept Pakistan since he suspended Chaudhry in March for alleged misconduct. A 13- member panel of the Supreme Court reinstated the judge July 20.

Musharraf has held talks with Benazir Bhutto, the main opposition leader, on a power-sharing agreement under which he would retain the presidency and she would return from self- imposed exile to be prime minister.

Bhutto, 54, announced last week she intends to return to Pakistan on Oct. 18, after eight years, to lead her Pakistan Peoples Party in elections. Her talks with Musharraf have stalled, the PPP said last week.

The PPP may consider joining the opposition alliance in boycotting legislatures unless progress is made in talks with Musharraf, Bhutto said in an interview with AP yesterday. Such a move is ``very much an option,'' she said.

The president's allies want to ``create a crisis rather than have a smooth transition to democracy,'' Bhutto said.

Pakistan Economy

Musharraf, who ousted then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, has used his rule to help the South Asian country's $146 billion economy expand at an average annual rate of 7.5 percent in the past four years. Foreign exchange reserves rose to $16 billion this month, from less than $1 billion eight years ago.

The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange has climbed 11-fold on international aid and loans since Musharraf withdrew support for Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Pakistan refused to allow Sharif to return to the country on Sept. 10 and sent him back to Saudi Arabia where he has spent seven years in exile. Pakistan's Supreme Court had ruled that he should be allowed to return home.

Sharif was convicted of corruption and treason and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Musharraf pardoned him in 2000 under an agreement in which Sharif was to be exiled to Saudi Arabia. As a condition of the pardon, Sharif was required to stay out of Pakistan for 10 years, the government says. Sharif said he had agreed to live in exile for five years.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=ammsFZiHsXuM&refer=asia

 

[Awesome]

SC will let parliament elect Musharraf

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Parliament is the biggest state organ and the Supreme Court will respect its right to re-elect President Gen Pervez Musharraf, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afghan Khan Niazi in an ARY TV programme on Saturday.

“The Supreme Court is not out to break state institutions and it would not overthrow the parliament’s decision to re-elect Musharraf,” Niazi said. He claimed that the opposition would not have any unanimous presidential candidate and the Pakistan Muslim League would get Musharraf re-elected unopposed.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Contrarian]

Pakistan's constitution has become a joke, it is changed conveniently every time there is a new ruler. Why havent there been ANY protests to this at all in Pakistan?

 

[Lahori paa jee]

If this articles does not apply on Mush it wont be applied to any other public officer holder too. Everyone would be allowed to contest the elections and this would create real problems

Election commission is supposed to be a neutral body but it is becoming a party.

 

[Always Neutral]

SC may put brakes on Mush's presidential plans


SC may put brakes on Mush's presidential plans

Just days before the announcement of Presidential election in Pakistan, the country’s Supreme Court on Monday dealt a big blow to President General Pervez Musharraf, saying amendments made in the rules for the presidential elections to allow Musharraf to run for another term were unconstitutional.


A nine-judge bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice Rana Bhagwandas, questioned the Pakistan Election Commission as to why the said amendments were carried out in violation of constitutional norms.


The panel of judges made the observation when it was hearing six petitions, including one by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic group, urging the court to disqualify General Musharraf as a candidate in upcoming presidential elections.


On Sunday, Pakistan's Election Commission had amended rules that bar government servants from contesting presidential polls, a move that paved the way for Pervez Musharraf's re-election to the top post, drawing sharp reaction from opposition parties which vowed to block it.


The presidential election by lawmakers is likely in early October, but Gen Musharraf has not yet indicated publicly whether he will leave his job as Army Chief first.


There have been reports that the Pakistan Election Commission is scheduled to announce the presidential election on Tuesday. The poll panel has been reluctant to announce schedules for the polls in view of the court cases.


In its petition, Jamaat-e-Islami said that a 2004 parliamentary act that enabled Musharraf to become President while he still held the Army Chief post was against the Constitution.


Musharraf's "candidature for the election of the office of the President of Pakistan... for the next term is void, malafide, unconstitutional, without lawful authority and of no legal effect,” the petition said.


The SC Bench is also likely to hear a contempt of court case against the President for deporting Nawaz Sharif. Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry decided not to preside over the case on Monday.


The ruling PML has been maintaining that Musharraf will give up his uniform by November 15.


An Election Commission official said the poll panel has amended Presidential Election Rules, so that Article 63 of the Constitution that has a clause to bar government servants from participating in elections unless they have been retired for at least two years, no longer applies to the President.


A notification to this effect has been issued, the text of which would be released soon, Secretary, EC, Kunwar Irshad was quoted by Geo TV as saying.


Irshad said the Presidential Election Rules have been amended with the approval of President himself. The rule has been amended under the provision of judgement by the Supreme Court in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 is not applicable to the President in toto, he added.

 

[Neo]

Election rule change favors Pakistan's Musharraf​

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Election Commission announced a rule change Monday that would apparently allow President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to seek a new, five-year term while still serving as army chief.
Opposition parties insist the U.S.-backed Musharraf is ineligible to run, but the commission said it had changed a rule so that a key article of the constitution no longer applied.

"The chief election commissioner of Pakistan has made the requisite amendment, with the approval of the president," the commission said in a statement.

The rule change drew an outraged response from opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She also accused Musharraf's allies of leading the country toward a dangerous crisis by refusing to restore democracy and share power.

Bhutto predicted the decision would enrage the same lawyers who led the campaign for the restoration of Pakistan's independent-minded top judge whom Musharraf tried to remove from office in March, sparking a pro-democracy protest movement. The Supreme Court later reinstated the judge.

"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.

She 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."

Pakistan's political turmoil is deepening as Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and became a key U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, tries to extend his rule. He wants lawmakers to vote him back in by mid-October, but faces tough legal and political obstacles.

Musharraf's term expires Nov. 15. The president is elected in a vote by all members of Pakistan's provincial and national assemblies.

Musharraf's standing has plummeted since March, and he is also struggling to contain a surge in attacks by pro-Taliban militants near the border with Afghanistan.

Last week, he sidelined his chief political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sending him back into exile. But in doing that, he set up another showdown with the Supreme Court that had earlier ruled that Sharif could return to Pakistan.

Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf on a pact including constitutional amendments to defuse the legal challenges to his re-election and let her return and seek a third term as premier in parliamentary elections due by January.

Negotiations have snagged over Musharraf's reluctance to cede his sweeping powers.

Monday's announcement by the election commission, however, seemed to remove the need for such a pact.

The election 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 includes a bar on government servants running for election that some legal experts argue prevents Musharraf from seeking another term.

The article also says that former government servants must wait for two years before they become eligible to run. Some argue that makes Musharraf ineligible even if he quits as army chief.

Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said the government was not involved in the rule change. He defended the Election Commission's announcement, saying it had only amended the election rules in accordance with court rulings.

On Monday, the Supreme Court resumed hearing six petitions, including one by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist group, on Musharraf's eligibility to stand again. Their eventual verdict could override the decision of the Election Commission.

Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said that, with the cases pending in court, the Election Commission was "reluctant" to announce the schedule for the presidential election. Ruling party lawmakers have said it will be held in early October.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Election rule change favors Pakistan's Musharraf - USATODAY.com

 

[Always Neutral]

Sunday Election Commission amends rules to benefit the Gen.
Monday SC rules that the ammendments are illegal.

Now what, seems like a stalemate

 

[Awesome]

Sunday Election Commission amends rules to benefit the Gen.
Monday SC rules that the ammendments are illegal.

Now what, seems like a stalemate

Amendments can never be illegal as long as 2/3rd majority supports it.

Elected lawmakers can eventually override the SC.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

While I am all for Musharraf, the Election Commission cannot change rules. It has to have constitutional validity. The constitution has to be amended and a two thirds majority of the Parliament is required.

BB will win the elections and with the Kings Party will have the requisite numbers and then it will become legal!

This is in the interim.

Asim,

I wonder if Musharraf can whip up a two thirds majority in this Parliament!

 

[Awesome]

If BB supports, he has the 2/3rds majority needed.

The constitutional amendment is already done. It was stated that IF the SC gives special exemption a person CAN run for election even while having a governmental position. SC has given the exemption.

Then 2nd point that the government is arguing is that the post of the president is not restricted to be a dual post in the constitution.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

The constitutional amendment is already done

When?

Some details please for my update.

 

[Awesome]

When?

Some details please for my update.

In 2001 I believe? When Musharraf became President and got the exemption from the SC. With all that's said about legalities, Musharraf is the only one doing things AS per the law. He might be using the rules to his benefit, but he is jumping through all the hoops not blatantly dictating.

 

[bhangra12345]

In 2001 I believe? When Musharraf became President and got the exemption from the SC. With all that's said about legalities, Musharraf is the only one doing things AS per the law. He might be using the rules to his benefit, but he is jumping through all the hoops not blatantly dictating.

There is a case going on in the SC right now (the one in which CJP excused himself) regarding the end date of this exclusion

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

There is a case going on in the SC right now (the one in which CJP excused himself) regarding the end date of this exclusion

True, the court is disregardig precedent and taking up the same question again. the governments position is that the SC has already ruled on the issue in its favor in 2001.

the governments position revolves around these articles:

41. The President.
(1) There shall be a President of Pakistan who shall be the Head of State and shall represent the unity of the Republic.

(2) A person shall not be qualified for election as President unless he is a Muslim of not less than forty-five years of age and is qualified to be elected as member of the National Assembly.

The last part is what is being contested:

[62. Qualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).
A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless :-

(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan;

[64B][(b) he is, in the case of the National Assembly, not less than twenty -five years of age and is enrolled as a voter in any electoral roll in-
(i) any part of Pakistan, for election to a general seat or a seat reserved for non-Muslims; and
(ii) any area in a Province from which he seeks membership for election to a seat reserved for women.]
(c) he is, in the case of Senate, not less than thirty years of age and is enrolled as a voter in any area in a Province or, as the case may be, the Federal Capital or the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, from where he seeks membership;

(d) he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions;

(e) he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practises obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstains from major sins ;

(f) he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate and honest and ameen;

(g) he has not been convicted for a crime involving moral turpitude or for giving false evidence;

(h) he has not, after the establishment of Pakistan, worked against the integrity of the country or opposed the Ideology of Pakistan

Provided that the disqualifications specified in paragraphs (d) and (e) shall not apply to a person who is a non-Muslim, but such a person shall have good moral reputation; and
(i) he possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed by Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).]

There is also a list of conditions that result in being "disqualified as a member of "Majlis- e- shoora".
[Chapter 2: Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] of [Part III: The Federation of Pakistan]

The governments contention is that the wording of the constitution only allows for the qualifications for becoming a member of the "Majlis - e - shoora" to be applied to the president, not the disqualifications.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Hmm after reading the report on Pakistan Defence, I am not sure about what article is being used to challenge Mushy's dual office.

43. Conditions of President's office.
(1) The President shall not hold any office of profit in the service of Pakistan or occupy any other position carrying the right to remuneration for the rendering of services.
(2) The President shall not be a candidate for election as a member of [20][Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] or a Provincial Assembly; and, if a member of [20][Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] or a Provincial Assembly is elected as President, his seat in [20][Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] or, as the case may be, the Provincial Assembly shall become vacant on the day he enters upon his office.

So my guess is that 43 (1) is the reason Mushy is choosing to step down as Army Chief before the new election, and that is the basis behind challenging his current dual office role.