ISLAMABAD, 19 December 2007 — Pakistan’s poll panel upheld an election ban on former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif barring him from the January polls, his lawyer said yesterday.
Sharif was allowed back from seven years of exile last month and has been campaigning for the Jan. 8 general election despite the ban, imposed this month for past criminal convictions he says were politically motivated.
Sharif had challenged the ban but the Election Commission rejected his appeal saying it should be filed with an election tribunal made up of judges who swore allegiance to Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3.
“We told the Election Commission these tribunals are not properly constituted because that was done in consultation with the president but they said ‘no, we cannot make an exception for Nawaz Sharif’,” Sharif’s lawyer Akram Sheikh told Reuters.
“Nawaz Sharif has taken a principled stand that he would not appeal before the PCO judges,” Sheikh said, referring to a provisional constitutional order promulgated by Musharraf after he invoked emergency powers.
After imposing the emergency, Musharraf fired dozens of judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who were seen as hostile to his October re-election by legislators while still army chief.
Musharraf then swore in the remaining and new judges under the provisional constitutional order. He later stepped down as army chief and was sworn in as civilian president.
He revoked emergency rule and restored the constitution at the weekend but has ruled out an opposition demand for the reinstatement of the sacked judges, some of whom remain under house arrest.
Election authorities have also barred Sharif’s politician brother, Shahbaz, from running, citing financial irregularities.
A spokesman for Sharif said the rejection of the Sharifs’ nominations was part of government plan to rig the election.
“This rejection is meant to send a signal to supporters of Nawaz Sharif that their party is not going to come to power,” said the spokesman, Nadir Chaudhri.
Sharif has, however, drawn huge crowds in the series of public meetings he has addressed so far. “I know the threats Pakistan is facing. I have not returned to Pakistan to grab power but to save the country,” he told a gathering at an election rally.
Sharif and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have also agreed on an unofficial seat adjustment to ensure two-thirds majority in the lower house of Parliament. The vote is seen as a three-way race between Benazir, Sharif’s party and the party that has ruled under Musharraf and backs him. Analysts expected a hung Parliament with no side winning an outright majority. Sharif initially called for a vote boycott but his party later decided to contest the election after Benazir decided to run.
Nevertheless, Benazir and other politicians have voiced fears that a compliant judiciary will allow Musharraf to rig the polls with a network of local chiefs, bogus votes and excluding opposition supporters from ballot stations. Addressing about 10,000 supporters in Mirpurkhas town in Sindh, Benazir said the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League was heading for defeat, if vote was not rigged. “Nobody wants to come near them because they know a dead body smells and they are politically dead,” she said.
Musharraf has rejected accusations of rigging and said all political parties have a level playing field.
Meanwhile, with the issuance of final list of candidates by the Election Commission, the contest will now be for 272 National Assembly general seats and 577 seats of the provincial assemblies. An average of six candidates are in the run for one National Assembly (NA) and six for one Punjab Assembly seat.
Earlier, an average of 15 candidates contested for one NA seat and 16 for one provincial assembly seat in Punjab.
According to information collected by Arab News a total of 7,271 nomination papers were filed in Punjab province including Islamabad till Nov. 26 for 150 national and 371 provincial assembly seats which after acceptance, rejection and withdrawal has now come down to 3,348.
