LAHORE, July 1: The government will give a schedule for the new general elections in the light of the decisions taken by the opposition’s July 7-8 multi-party conference to be held in London and the verdict of the apex court on the presidential reference, being expected during the current month, authoritative ruling party sources said on Sunday.
The sources said it had been decided as a matter of principle that no retired general or judge would be appointed as the head of the interim set-up. Instead, they said, some technocrat or retired bureaucrat would be entrusted the responsibility of holding open and fair elections acceptable to all parties.
Leaders of the parties in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the Awami National Party, the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, the PONAM and people from various walks of life will be meeting in London to prepare a charter of demands to hold free and fair polls. The possibility of mutual cooperation against the ruling coalition candidates will also come under discussion.
The sources pointed out that since the PPP and the PML-N had challenged the new electoral rolls before the Supreme Court, the government would also have to wait for the decision before announcing any timeframe for the new polls.
Answering a question, the sources said it was just a “proposal” that the National Assembly elections should be held while keeping the provincial assemblies intact. The phased polls, they said, would change the composition of the president’s electoral college and thus make it possible for the ruling coalition to re-elect President Musharraf. The opposition’s objections to the eligibility of the existing electoral college to elect the president for another term would weaken, specially when the MMA-led NWFP assembly would also stay intact, and it would be possible for the government to satisfy the external world about the fairness of the presidential election, the sources said explaining the rationale of the phased polls.
According to Minister of State for Information Technology Ishaq Khakwani, so far the cabinet, the ruling party or the parliamentary party had not discussed matters concerning the new elections. However, he said, it was possible that the matter was discussed at the top level and brought to the cabinet or the party for ‘ratification’ at a later stage.
In his opinion the ‘bifurcated or truncated elections’ (Sic) would not be in the interest of
the country, and the opposition parties might challenge such a scheme before the Supreme Court.
He said although phased polls would suit the interests of the ruling party, there was little possibility of the opposition parties accepting the results as the provincial governments would be there to support the governing party candidates. Similarly, he pointed out, when the new federal government would be in place and in a position to support the candidates for the provincial assemblies, the opposition parties would get an opportunity to reject the results.
A leader from Vehari who worked with the PPP (SB) before joining the PML at the time of 2002 polls, Khakwani said he still would like to believe Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s assurance a few days ago that the assemblies would complete their tenure and the elections would be held on time.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sources say that the elections would be held in 60 days in case the assemblies are dissolved on the completion of their term, and 90 days in case they are sacked prematurely.
The process for the presidential election requires about 25 days to complete.
The sources said the ECP would enrol as many votes as computerized ID cards issued by NADRA. If some eligible voters were not registered, the responsibility lay with NADRA not ECP, the sources claimed.