WASHINGTON, Feb 16: The US State Department, for the first time, has openly disagreed with President Pervez Musharraf’s suggestion that he would not tolerate protests after the election.

“People have the right to peacefully protest and to peacefully speak out on their opinions regardless of whether those opinions are supportive of a government,” said the department’s spokesman Sean McCormack while commenting on the statement the president made during a television interview on Thursday.

“Our view, and we have expressed these to all important actors in Pakistani political life, is that they should devote their energies to ensuring that this is the kind of election in which the Pakistani people can have confidence,” Mr McCormack added.

“The Pakistani people should have a reasonable degree of assurance that their ballot will, in fact, be reflected in the results and that the overall will of the Pakistani people is reflected in these results.”

Mr McCormack said that ultimately it’s the people of Pakistan who have to decide whether the elections were fair and free. “This has to be an election in which they have confidence. And we all will look for the election to produce a government in which the Pakistani people can have confidence.”

Talking about the measures that the United States believes are important to ensure the fairness of the election, the State Department spokesman said all candidates should have access to the media and people should be able to freely express themselves in a peaceful manner – free from threat of violence or intimidation.

“They should be able to peacefully assemble. There should be a set of procedures surrounding election day, in which the Pakistani people can have confidence that their ballot will in fact be faithfully reflected as part of the results of the election.”