Official: Pakistan Election Date to be Set Wednesday

January 1st, 2008 Sana · No Comments

A Pakistani official says it may be impossible to hold parliamentary elections on January 8.

Election Commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad says the commission will consult with political parties about a postponement and announce its final decision Wednesday. The commission had earlier said a decision would be announced Tuesday.

Pakistani officials also said Tuesday the elections would most likely be delayed until the end of February.

The government has been considering the delay since the assassination of former Prime Minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last Thursday, and the violence that followed.

Ms. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party - now led by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and their son, Bilawal - insists the elections take place on January eighth as planned.

Pakistan’s other main opposition party, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, also wants the vote to go ahead as scheduled. His party has decided to take part in the parliamentary elections, reversing earlier plans to boycott the vote.

U.S. officials have expressed concern about an indefinite postponement of elections. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said it is essential that Pakistan’s election commission name a specific new date if it delays the poll.

The United States was instrumental in bringing Ms. Bhutto back to Pakistan from exile in a push toward democracy.

Unrest that has killed at least 47 people since Ms. Bhutto’s death last week has died down, with only sporadic violence.

Pakistani Railways Minister Mansoor Tariq said train service in Karachi and Sukkur would resume Tuesday, connecting southern Pakistan’s Sindh province with the rest of the country. He said tracks and bridges have been temporarily repaired, and he noted that 63 train stations and 18 bridges were damaged in the riots.