Non-Subscriber Extract
Pakistan elections postponed
04 January 2008 /p>
EVENT |
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Local media reported on 2 January that the Pakistani government has decided to postpone parliamentary elections until 18 February. |
In a televised address on 2 January, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defended the Election Commission's (EC) decision to delay the polls, arguing that it had no choice given the extent of the destruction in Sindh province following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on 27 December.
FORECAST |
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Musharraf remains determined to cling on to power and to this end he is likely either to try and engineer a repeat of the 2002 elections or to attempt to form some sort of pre-poll alliance with one of the opposition parties, similar to his deal with Bhutto before she died. However, Musharraf's political position and credibility are so tenuous that his political maneuverability to weather this crisis is likely to become further restrained, likely forcing the military to step in and remove Musharraf from the political scene. |