Benazir rejects new voters list

Pakistan's former prime minister and Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto has demanded that elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies, scheduled for later this year, be held on the basis of computerised voters lists prepared in 1995 because the electoral rolls prepared by the military, did not contain her name or that of her entire cabinet, which was a gross irregularity.

Her party has also rejected the amendments to the election law of the country, saying the right to effect changes in the electoral system rested with the parliament. No individual or group of people enjoyed that mandate.

The party's policy-making central committee, which met in Islamabad on Sunday, also called for an interim government instead of the present setup to hold free and fair polls.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, Bhutto supported the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) demand for a government of national consensus to run the country until the elections.

She claimed that in the 1997 elections, which she lost to Nawaz Sharif, two sets of voters lists were prepared. One of these was given to candidates and the other to the polling staff.

The result was obvious: the staff at election offices stuffed the ballot boxed with votes shown on the second list, and, thus, committed fraud. There was a need for a neutral interim setup to conduct elections fairly. Bhutto cited the example of Bangladesh where elections are held under the supervision of the judiciary.

The other option, which is also the minimum requirement to prevent partisanship from polluting the electoral process, is the induction of neutral people in the election process.