ISLAMABAD, 5 January 2008 — EU election observers yesterday said they would deploy across Pakistan in the coming weeks and on the troubled nation’s delayed Feb. 18 election day to ensure the polls are “free and fair.” A team of nearly 100 will be on the ground visiting polling stations on the day of the vote to ensure proper procedures are followed, said the head of the EU Election Observation Mission to Pakistan.
“I really invite all (political) parties, civil society, and the media to be active on the ground in respective communities, in ensuring that this is the people’s election,” chief observer Michael Gahler said here.
President Pervez Musharraf backed the postponement of general elections, originally set for Jan. 8, until Feb. 18 after the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto a week ago plunged the nation into turmoil.
The delay has been criticized as a ploy by Musharraf loyalists in the government to rob the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of any sympathy vote it may have won in the aftermath of Benazir’s murder.
“We are prepared to accept information from all parties,” Gahler said of allegations by the opposition that elections could be rigged, but added that he had “no reason to expect” his team would face any government restrictions.
A “core team” of 11 experts will be based in Islamabad while a further 50 “long-term observers” are expected to be sent out in the coming days, if the security situation allows.
They will be joined by a further 48 observers one week ahead of voting, Gahler said, with the monitoring team deployed in pairs across Pakistan on the polling day.
Meanwhile, a Scotland Yard team arrived in Pakistan yesterday to help investigate Benazir’s assassination. But The PPP opposed it, saying it will fail to shed any light on the murder.
“This Scotland Yard team... what will it do here? It will work under the patronage of the government. It is going to be a meaningless exercise,” said Farooq Naik, a lawyer and Benazir’s top aide.
He said the PPP would not cooperate with any investigation other than one held under the auspices of the United Nations, such as the UN-led probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
“We reject it, we will not join it,” Naik said. “An international investigation commission should be set up, appointed by the UN and answerable to the UN and nobody else.”
The government has ruled out any UN-led inquiry into the Dec. 27 assassination. Benazir’s supporters have blamed Musharraf for failing to provide adequate security for the two-time former prime minister, who had survived an earlier suicide bombing in October which left scores dead.
