October 13, 2002	Sunday	Sha'aban 6, 1423

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NEW YORK, Oct 12: The United States said on Friday it accepted the election results in Pakistan as being a credible representation of the full range of opinion in the country and noted that President Musharraf has said he expects to hand over chief executive authority to a new prime minister sometime around Nov 3.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher rejected that the success of religious parties was a failure of the US policies, saying: “Let’s not assume that everything that happens in the world is a failure for the United States. I reject that opinion from the start.”

Speaking at a press briefing, he said: “While these elections are an important step towards restoration of full democracy in Pakistan, government and political leaders now have a joint responsibility to ensure the smooth transition to a sustainable form of democratic and civilian rule.”

“The next crucial step is the transfer of power to the new National Assembly and establishing its role,” he stressed.

Boucher said: “There is an alliance of six religious parties who did quite well in Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province. It will be one of several parties in the parliament. We think that the Pakistani people and the government have already demonstrated their strong opposition to terrorism and extremism, their desire to move their society in a more moderate and stable direction. We certainly welcome that. We look forward to working with them on that and we hope that all the parties will be committed to moving in that direction.”