ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: The controversial process for the election of the country’s next president kicked off on Thursday with 43 people from diversified background filing 71 nomination papers. However, the exercise left little doubt that Gen Pervez Musharraf is the only serious contender who may have no problem on the ballot provided he is allowed to contest the elections by the Supreme Court.
Included among those who filed the papers on Thursday are a few non-serious contenders, and some prominent politicians who appear to be cover candidates. Besides Gen Musharraf, two other serious candidates are Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, who has been fielded by the lawyers’ fraternity, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the nominee of the Pakistan People’s Party.
With the Election Commission building in Islamabad looking like a besieged place for most part of the day, it kept receiving nomination papers from the candidates.
President Musharraf decided to stay away from the venue, apparently to avoid any unpleasant situation, and his papers were submitted by leaders of the ruling PML and allied parties. Led by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the leaders went to the Chief Election Commissioner amid tight security, remained there for a while and filed 17 nomination papers on behalf of General Musharraf. The list of those who nominated and seconded his candidature looked like the who’s who of the ruling coalition, all of them wanting to publicly show their allegiance to the president.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the 17 nomination papers filed on behalf of the president is that while most of them refer to him as General Pervez Musharraf, a couple of forms simply state his name with no reference to his military position.
Some legal experts are of the view that this has perhaps been done to keep his options open as a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing petitions in the dual-office case is yet to announce its verdict.
Soon after submitting the nomination papers, Premier Aziz called it a historic day for democracy, the country and its people. He said President Musharraf was the unanimous candidate of the PML and its coalition partners and expressed the confidence that he would emerge victorious.
He claimed that the PML and its coalition partners had enough votes to re-elect the president.
PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed said the president would take off his military uniform after his election and before taking oath for another term. “There is a short distance between Gen Musharraf and Mr Musharraf,” he remarked.
According to Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilshad, a total of 71 nomination papers were filed by 43 candidates in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar. No paper was submitted in Quetta. Forty-one of the papers were filed by 15 candidates with Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammad Farooq.
These include 17 nomination papers of President Musharraf, five of National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, three each from Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, two each of Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro and Syed Mohammad Iqtidar from Lahore and one each by nine others. The Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker are cover candidates for the president.
PPP senators Babar Awan, Enver Baig and Safdar Abbassi and MNAs Raja Pervez Ashraf and Naheed Khan submitted three papers for Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
Though the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has decided not to field any candidate, party vice-president Tahmina Daultana proposed the name of her spouse Zahid Anwar Wahla as a presidential candidate which was seconded by Nazir Ahmad Dogar.
Talking to reporters after submitting his papers, Justice Wajihuddin said he had decided to contest the presidential polls as a mission to ensure the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution. He said the present assemblies could not elect Gen Musharraf for another term.
“This is unconstitutional, illegal and contrary to the legal morality. Musharraf is disqualified to contest the polls in the ultimate analysis,” he remarked.
He said he was not against the person of the president but was opposed to his ambitions. He said the military dictatorship had failed to provide basic amenities of life to the people, resolve their problems and control law and order.
He said he was ready to withdraw his candidature if Makhdoom Amin Fahim or someone else was nominated as the consensus candidate of the opposition.
Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Amin Fahim would be the best choice as the unanimous candidate of the opposition. He expressed the hope that members of parliament would cast their votes in his favour. He said the aim of the PPP was to bring genuine democracy to the country.
The Election Commission will scrutinise the nomination papers on Saturday.
In Lahore, President Musharraf was among 12 candidates whose nomination papers were submitted to the Election Commission office.
His papers were submitted by proposer Kanwal Naseem and seconder Gulshan Malik Riaz, both women MPAs of the ruling PML.
Others who submitted their papers include: Dr Fazlur Rehman, Rana Nek Mohammad, Hafeezur Rehman Rana, Nawab Amber Shehzada, Zahid Iqbal, Chaudhry Mohammad Ashfaq, convener of the Musharraf Support Movement, Muazzam Iqbal Gill, Dr Zahoor Mehdi, Mohammad Shahbaz Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig and M.P. Khan.
LHC public relations officer M.B. Shahid told reporters that none of the other 11 candidates had his candidature proposed and seconded as they had filed their papers without meeting the major legal requirement.
In Peshawar, three people filed nomination papers with the presiding officer, Justice Tariq Pervez Khan.
They are: Munir Ahmad Sherazi, an official of the income tax department, Advocate Itebar Khan, a former provincial joint secretary of the ruling PML and Sardar Mohammad Rafique Shehzada, of Swabi.
Two of the candidates had no proposer or seconder and one had no seconder.
ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: The controversial process for the election of the country’s next president kicked off on Thursday with 43 people from diversified background filing 71 nomination papers. However, the exercise left little doubt that Gen Pervez Musharraf is the only serious contender who may have no problem on the ballot provided he is allowed to contest the elections by the Supreme Court.
