Pakistan Views

President Pervez Musharraf’s allies on Tuesday faced a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections that placed the key US ally’s political survival in doubt, according to early unofficial results.
Opposition supporters took to the streets chanting the names of former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto early Tuesday as their parties swept the board with almost half of all results in.
The polls were the final step on the nation’s path to civilian democracy after eight years of turbulent military rule by the increasingly unpopular Musharraf.
“The voters have delivered their verdict, and as democrats we accept their verdict,” said Tariq Azeem, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), which backed Musharraf throughout the last parliament.
Early results showed a “big gain” for Sharif and Bhutto’s parties, Azeem told AFP, adding: “If the results are confirmed we will play the part of the opposition as effectively as we can.” High-profile victims who lost their seats included party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and almost all of Musharraf’s former cabinet, including close presidential ally Sheikh Rashid.
“The results are shocking,” a party official said on condition of anonymity.
State television said that with 125 out of 272 constituencies counted, Sharif’s faction of the Pakistan Muslim League had 50 seats, the PPP had 39 and the PML-Q had 18, with smaller parties and independents taking the rest.
An opposition win would leave Musharraf’s political fate uncertain, as a parliament packed with enemies of the former general could weaken him — or even leave him open to impeachment.
Musharraf said earlier that he would accept the outcome.
“The result will be the voice of the nation and whosoever wins we should accept it — that includes myself,” he told state television.
Turnout was estimated at more than 40 percent of Pakistan’s 81 million eligible voters, election commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad said, indicating similar turnout to the last elections in 1997 and 2002.
An influential US senator who observed polling said Pakistan’s elections would be viewed as completely flawed if the PML-Q were declared victorious.
“If Musharraf’s party beats all odds and ends up being the winner here, I think it will be viewed as a totally discredited undertaking,” Senator Joseph Biden told the American television network CNN.
Neither Sharif nor Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari made any initial comments on the results. Spokesmen for both parties said they expected to win the vote and would hold talks with other opposition groups.
Analysts said Musharraf would likely try to woo Bhutto’s party and split it from Sharif’s, but said that he faced a struggle for political survival.
“For him the most crucial issue would be his political survival rather than fighting the war against terrorism,” said political analyst Hasan Askari, in a warning to Musharraf’s Western allies.
In sporadic political violence Sunday and Monday at least 19 people were killed, including two members of Sharif’s party.