LAHORE, July 9: President Gen Pervez Musharraf will be re-elected by the existing assemblies even if all opposition legislators resign from their seats, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi said on Monday.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Niazi said that to be elected for another term, Gen Musharraf was required to get majority of votes of members sitting in the house and taking part in the electoral process. Thus, the process for the presidential election would go ahead as scheduled even if opposition lawmakers resigned, he said.

Opposition parties at a conference in London on Sunday had said they would resist Gen Musharraf’s re-election from the present assemblies and would resign from their assembly seats to thwart the bid.

Dr Niazi said it was not for Gen Musharraf or the government to set a date for the presidential election because the Constitution had made it clear when the process should start and come to an end. He said that as the president’s term was expiring on Nov 15, he was required to seek re-election from the assemblies that would be in place between Sept 15 and Oct 15. He said it was the Chief Election Commissioner’s constitutional obligation to make arrangements for the election.

He said the Senate and the National Assembly had 100 and 342 votes, respectively, and the number of votes of provincial legislatures put together for the presidential election was 260 (65 votes for every house).

The ruling coalition had 56 votes in the Senate, 202 in the National Assembly, 50, 35, 20 and 15 in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP assemblies, respectively, he claimed. This, he said, showed that Gen Musharraf could get himself re-elected even if opposition legislators resigned.

He disputed a suggestion that an election in the absence of opposition lawmakers would not have any credibility and said if provisions of the Constitution were adhered to, there was no reason why the result should not be accepted. He claimed that the election of the president could not be challenged in any court on any ground.

The minister reiterated that the presidential election would be held between Sept 15 and Oct 15 and the assemblies would be dissolved on Nov 15. He ruled out dissolving the National Assembly before the provincial legislatures.

Asked why the president should not get a fresh mandate from the new assemblies, the minister said there was no need for such an arrangement. He said the assemblies would not be dissolved prematurely because it would be “something very odd”.

About the London conference’s demand that Gen Musharraf should not be part of the interim setup which would hold the general elections, Dr Niazi said Gen Musharraf could not be deprived of a role bestowed upon him by the Constitution.

He rejected an opposition demand for dissolving local governments three months before the general elections. “Why should we do that? This is a highly undemocratic demand”.

The minister said all opposition parties had taken part in the local elections and there was no justification to seek their dissolution before the general elections.

When told that opposition parties feared that local governments would influence results of the elections, he said opponents wanted to destroy the LG system.