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Musharraf Wins Majority in Pakistan Presidential Vote (Update6)
By Khalid Qayum and Farhan Sharif
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- General Pervez Musharraf won Pakistan's presidential election today as legal challenges to his candidacy continued and protesters clashed with police.
With opposition parties boycotting the election, state-run Pakistan Television said Musharraf took a majority of votes cast by the national and provincial lawmakers who choose the president of the world's second most-populous Muslim nation.
Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who seized control of Pakistan in 1999, is negotiating a power-sharing agreement with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that would allow her to run for her old job. Legislators from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party didn't take part in the presidential vote.
``Musharraf won't wield the same power as he has for the last eight years,'' said Ishtiaq Ahmed, a professor of international relations at Quaid-e-Azam International University in Islamabad. ``Now, he will be sharing power with politicians, and that will be his major challenge.''
The Election Commission didn't declare a winner pending the outcome of a court challenge to Musharraf's candidacy. Presidential candidates Wajihuddin Ahmed, a retired Supreme Court justice, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice chairman of Bhutto's party, claim the law bars Musharraf from running for president while he heads the army.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 17, a court order released yesterday said, without specifying how long it might take to reach a decision.
``Pakistan is an important partner, an ally to the United States, and we congratulate them for today's election,'' said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. ``We look forward to the electoral commission's announcement and to working with all of Pakistan's leaders on important bilateral, regional and counterterrorism issues.''
Opposition
The biggest opposition group in the 342-member parliament, the All Parties Democratic Movement, called a nationwide general strike today after 163 of its lawmakers resigned from assemblies on Oct 2.
Police beat protesting lawyers in the northwestern city of Peshawar today, GEO television reported. Most stores remained open and public transport was running normally in the capital, Islamabad, and the commercial hub of Karachi.
Musharraf was backed by lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam party.
``The results show the people want continuity, stability and economic growth,'' Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, a member of the ruling party and a former Citigroup executive, told Pakistan Television.
With the help of U.S. aid, Pakistan's $146 billion economy has expanded an average 7.5 percent in the past four years, helping reduce poverty in a nation where two thirds of the population of 160 million people lives on less than $2 a day.
`Totally Rigged'
``It was a totally rigged election,'' said Munir A. Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, which backed retired judge Ahmed. ``Our struggle won't end with this vote counting.''
Musharraf has said it was necessary to hold the posts of president and army chief because of domestic unrest and the fight against extremism, adding he can legally retain both offices until the presidential and parliamentary terms end on Nov. 15. The president is elected for a five-year term.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was last week named vice army chief, putting him in a position to succeed Musharraf as head of the army. The president will quit the military post by Nov. 15, if he is re-elected, his lawyer told the Supreme Court last month.
Parliamentary Elections
The end of the parliamentary term in November will be followed by elections for a new parliament by January, Musharraf said Oct. 3. Opposition parties had said the presidential ballot shouldn't be held until a new parliament is elected, a demand Musharraf rejected. Instead, he has said he will seek the new legislature's endorsement after winning another term.
Musharraf has tried to boost his position by seeking the support of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, the country's second-largest opposition party in parliament, behind the Islamic group of Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal.
Bhutto, 54, has demanded the president step down as army chief and change the law to allow her to become prime minister for a third time. Bhutto, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999 to avoid corruption cases against her in Pakistan, plans to return to the country on Oct. 18.
Musharraf issued a ``national reconciliation ordinance'' late yesterday to grant immunity to current and former lawmakers who have been accused of corruption since the 1980s.
By Khalid Qayum and Farhan Sharif
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- General Pervez Musharraf won Pakistan's presidential election today as legal challenges to his candidacy continued and protesters clashed with police.
With opposition parties boycotting the election, state-run Pakistan Television said Musharraf took a majority of votes cast by the national and provincial lawmakers who choose the president of the world's second most-populous Muslim nation.
Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who seized control of Pakistan in 1999, is negotiating a power-sharing agreement with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that would allow her to run for her old job. Legislators from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party didn't take part in the presidential vote.
``Musharraf won't wield the same power as he has for the last eight years,'' said Ishtiaq Ahmed, a professor of international relations at Quaid-e-Azam International University in Islamabad. ``Now, he will be sharing power with politicians, and that will be his major challenge.''
The Election Commission didn't declare a winner pending the outcome of a court challenge to Musharraf's candidacy. Presidential candidates Wajihuddin Ahmed, a retired Supreme Court justice, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice chairman of Bhutto's party, claim the law bars Musharraf from running for president while he heads the army.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 17, a court order released yesterday said, without specifying how long it might take to reach a decision.
``Pakistan is an important partner, an ally to the United States, and we congratulate them for today's election,'' said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. ``We look forward to the electoral commission's announcement and to working with all of Pakistan's leaders on important bilateral, regional and counterterrorism issues.''
Opposition
The biggest opposition group in the 342-member parliament, the All Parties Democratic Movement, called a nationwide general strike today after 163 of its lawmakers resigned from assemblies on Oct 2.
Police beat protesting lawyers in the northwestern city of Peshawar today, GEO television reported. Most stores remained open and public transport was running normally in the capital, Islamabad, and the commercial hub of Karachi.
Musharraf was backed by lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam party.
``The results show the people want continuity, stability and economic growth,'' Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, a member of the ruling party and a former Citigroup executive, told Pakistan Television.
With the help of U.S. aid, Pakistan's $146 billion economy has expanded an average 7.5 percent in the past four years, helping reduce poverty in a nation where two thirds of the population of 160 million people lives on less than $2 a day.
`Totally Rigged'
``It was a totally rigged election,'' said Munir A. Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, which backed retired judge Ahmed. ``Our struggle won't end with this vote counting.''
Musharraf has said it was necessary to hold the posts of president and army chief because of domestic unrest and the fight against extremism, adding he can legally retain both offices until the presidential and parliamentary terms end on Nov. 15. The president is elected for a five-year term.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was last week named vice army chief, putting him in a position to succeed Musharraf as head of the army. The president will quit the military post by Nov. 15, if he is re-elected, his lawyer told the Supreme Court last month.
Parliamentary Elections
The end of the parliamentary term in November will be followed by elections for a new parliament by January, Musharraf said Oct. 3. Opposition parties had said the presidential ballot shouldn't be held until a new parliament is elected, a demand Musharraf rejected. Instead, he has said he will seek the new legislature's endorsement after winning another term.
Musharraf has tried to boost his position by seeking the support of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, the country's second-largest opposition party in parliament, behind the Islamic group of Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal.
Bhutto, 54, has demanded the president step down as army chief and change the law to allow her to become prime minister for a third time. Bhutto, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999 to avoid corruption cases against her in Pakistan, plans to return to the country on Oct. 18.
Musharraf issued a ``national reconciliation ordinance'' late yesterday to grant immunity to current and former lawmakers who have been accused of corruption since the 1980s.
