ISLAMABAD, 18 May 2005 — Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will stand for election after his current term expires in 2007, a government minister said yesterday, a plan swiftly denounced by political opponents.
“There is no doubt that he will remain a candidate for the post of president after 2007 and Insha Allah (God willing), he will win,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Reuters.
Musharraf secured a five-year term as president through a controversial referendum in 2002.
This was endorsed by a parliamentary vote of confidence in January 2004 after his government struck a deal with a hard-line religious opposition alliance.
Under the deal, Musharraf promised to quit his post of army chief by the end of 2004, but he later backed down on the pledge, citing his crucial role in the US-led war on terrorism and his efforts to make peace with rival India.
Opposition groups quickly denounced Musharraf’s plan to stand for election as “unconstitutional”.
“Hardly any comment is justified about Gen. Musharraf’s seeking election in 2007,” said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the Pakistan Peoples Party of Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister living in exile.
Babar’s comments were echoed by Liaquat Baluch, a senior leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, the six-party religious opposition alliance still angered by Musharraf’s failure to stick to his bargain on giving up his military role.
“This statement is a deviation from the constitution because even the present position of Gen. Musharraf is legally and constitutionally controversial,” he said.
The Pakistan Muslim League enjoys a majority in Parliament and three of the four provincial legislatures, which will constitute the electoral college that will elect the president in 2007. A new Parliament is due to be elected in a general election in 2007.
Under the electoral college system, the new president will be chosen by a majority vote of all members of the national and four provincial assemblies and the Senate, or upper house of Parliament.
In recent months, Musharraf has been trying to improve his relations with mainstream opposition parties.
The mainstream opposition, including Benazir’s Peoples Party, has been angered by his refusal to allow the return of their leaders from exile without the threat of arrest.
