FORMER prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday that an opposition boycott of the coming polls would only help President Pervez Musharraf to legitimise his emergency rule.

“If we all boycott elections, then it will give Musharraf a two-thirds majority in parliament to validate his Provisional Constitution Order,” she told reporters in Peshawar.

“That is why we are saying that we will take part in elections under protest, but we will also leave the door open. I am getting conflicting signals from Nawaz Sharif and Qazi Hussain Ahmad about election boycott as they have filed nomination papers,” she said.

She said she would meet former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the issue. “I have signed a charter of democracy with Nawaz Sharif and we are committed to this charter.”

She said she had decided to take part in elections despite fears they would be rigged by the government.

“They have a plan to rig the elections. They have created improvised or ghost polling stations and also have a plan to steal thousands of ballot papers a night before election and give them to their candidates,” she said. Ms Bhutto said the Election Commission had not given her the list of voters in her constituency and was demanding Rs30 million to do so.—AFP