June 16, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, June 15: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto has criticised what she said the bid by the king’s party to get General Pervez Musharraf elected as president-in- uniform by the present assemblies.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the former prime minister said such declarations amounted to asserting that Gen Musharraf would not abide even by the constitution that had already been massively disfigured for the sole purpose of extending his tenure.

She said in the first place Gen Musharraf was never elected constitutionally to qualify him for re-election. “The general claims to have legitimised his rule through a fraudulent referendum that preceded the flawed elections of 2002. The referendum was universally recognized as a sham.”

Ms Bhutto said after the 2002 elections, Gen Musharraf missed the opportunity to seek election through the constitutionally defined electoral college.

She said instead of a constitutional election, Gen Musharraf sought the so-called votes of confidence from the various assemblies that had no basis even in the constitution he himself had arbitrarily amended. Even the votes of confidence were made possible only by a deal between Gen Musharraf and the MMA, she said.

“The so-called election of Musharraf by the existing assemblies would not only be mala fide but also a monumental political fraud, the convoluted interpretation of the constitution by so-called experts notwithstanding,” she added.

She said Musharraf was not an elected president under the constitution and therefore did not have a term that would end in November 2007.

He must open the political space equally to all political actors, step down as army chief and then if he so wanted run afresh as a candidate for president after the provincial assemblies, National Assembly and the Senate have been elected in a free and fair election in 2007.