May 18, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 01, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 17: National Democratic Institute (NDI) fears that free and fair elections would not be possible under the present system and pins little hope on a caretaker government if President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s powers remain unaffected.

“The present system is inadequate for fair and free elections,” said Teresita Schaffer, former US deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia, on Thursday at the launch of NDI’s report on its pre-election assessment.

The fears were based on the reported use of state apparatus against opposition parties; the independence of the Election Commission and its procedural inadequacies; slow electoral dispute-resolution mechanism and the government’s interference in the independence of judiciary.

The organisation, headquartered in Washington, suggested setting up of a caretaker setup, in consultation with political parties and civil society, but said the impact of such an action would be limited because president’s powers would remain unaffected.

The report says two issues cast a shadow over the upcoming elections; the president’s status as army chief and his intention to seek re-election under the current legislative assemblies.

David Collenette, a former Canadian minister, said the current assemblies had already elected him (Gen Musharraf) and it should be up to the next parliament to decide about the new president.

The report called for referring the matter of the president’s re-election, through the current assemblies, to the courts. On the issue of president’s uniform, Mr Collenette said, it is not acceptable and that is not how a democracy works.

The report recommends an early resolution of the uniform issue and says with a president serving in both positions blurs the distinction between military and civil authority.

The NDI delegation further recommended that the law preventing anyone from serving as prime minister for over two terms should be repealed, the independence of judiciary should be inviolate and the government should facilitate efforts of the bar council for protecting the judiciary’s independence, vacancies in the election commission should be filled through consultation with political parties and civil society and the parliament should establish a cross-party committee for formulating proposals for the conduct of elections.

“If these recommendations are implemented there could be much better prospects of fair elections,” concluded the NDI’s regional director Peter Manikas, adding that the government had sufficient time to act on these recommendations.