ISLAMABAD, 6 May 2008 — Pakistan’s Election Commission yesterday postponed by-elections for seats in the National Assembly (Parliament) and provincial assemblies to Aug. 18. Election Commission spokesman Nur Gulam said the schedule of submission of nomination papers, scrutiny and the last date of withdrawal would be announced later.

Nur Gulam did not give a reason for the postponement of the by-elections, which were earlier scheduled for June 18. Later, a commission official said it was responding to a cluttered legislative calendar and security concerns. A spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf rejected a claim that he was behind the delay.

Among the politically important constituencies where by-elections are to be held are two seats in Larkana in the southern Sindh province which slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had decided to contest.

The President of All Pakistan Bar Council and a prominent leader of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party will contest the Rawalpindi 55 seat. The seat was won by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) candidate Javed Hashmi in the Feb. 18 election. Hashmi also contested and won the Multan seat. After the election, he retained his home seat of Multan.

PML (N) leader Nawaz Sharif offered this crucial seat to PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari. But the PPP decided to field Ahsan for Rawalpindi 55. In the past, Ahsan contests seats elections from Lahore or his hometown of Gujrat.

Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif yesterday filed nomination papers for two constituencies — PP-141 and PP-154.

Anti-Musharraf parties swept the general elections in February, and the coalition government has begun a drive to reduce the former military strongman to little more than a figurehead.

But voting in some areas was voided or delayed because of problems including irregularities, security threats and the deaths of candidates, including Bhutto. The commission previously rescheduled balloting in those areas for June 18 to fill vacant federal and provincial assembly seats.

Zardari, who is Bhutto’s widower and political successor, has said he may stand for one of the seats in Larkana that Bhutto had hoped to contest. Aides of Nawaz Sharif, Zardari’s main partner in the coalition, have said he too was interested in running for a National Assembly seat.

Zardari condemned the delay as unconstitutional and demanded to know the “real reasons” behind it.

Zardari was to meet Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani later to discuss his “serious reservations,” a party statement said. “Even if the law and order situation was bad in any particular locality, it provided no justification to postpone by-elections throughout the country,” he said.

Sadiqul Farooq, a leader of Sharif’s party, said the explanation was “strange and unbelievable” because security had improved since February’s elections. Militants and security forces have been observing an unofficial cease-fire while the government tries to negotiate peace deals along the Afghan frontier.

Farooq also said Sharif was no longer interested in running for a seat. He provided no explanation. However, he accused Musharraf of trying to sabotage plans for Shahbaz to contest a seat in the Punjab provincial assembly.

Shahbaz was chief minister in Punjab, Pakistan’s dominant province, when his brother was prime minister. Both were arrested and exiled when Musharraf mounted a coup in 1999 in response to the government’s attempts to fire him as army chief.

While technically an independent body, the Election Commission is staffed by presidential nominees. European Union observers recently criticized it for a lack of transparency.

The presidency had “no input” into the commission’s decision, presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi said. He said it was unfortunate that “pointing to the presidency has become a political fashion.” A key Musharraf ally went further, claiming the delay was a ploy to give Shahbaz Sharif more time to try to remove legal obstacles to his taking part.

“They (the ruling parties) are now postponing the elections. ... Postponement will give them advantage,” said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party.

— With input from agencies