Pakistan's ruling party yesterday claimed victory in municipal elections that have been marred by violence while the opposition alleged massive fraud.
The polls, held in two stages on a non-party basis, were completed on Thursday in more than 100 districts across the country, with clashes between rival gangs leaving at least 41 people dead and nearly 800 wounded.
The elections were officially held on a non-party basis but were keenly contested by political factions to consolidate their power bases ahead of general elections in 2007 which are expected to result in President Pervez Musharraf staying in power.
"The Pakistan Muslim League and our allies have won the local bodies elections after a tough competition," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said.
"The results show that people have reposed confidence in President Musharraf and his policies of enlightened moderation," he said.
Musharraf had on Friday also described the outcome as a popular endorsement of his advocacy of political and religious moderation.
"The outcome of the elections throughout the country is a victory for the moderates, for the enlightened, and a defeat for the extremists," Musharraf said in Karachi.
The opposition heaped allegations on the conduct of the electoral exercise by the election commission, saying fair and transparent polls were not possible under Musharraf's dictatorship.
The general seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999 and organized the 2002 general elections that also saw a hardline religious alliance taking power in North West Frontier Province. He has promised to hold the next general election in 2007.
The Pakistan People's Party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said the elections for district councilors were a "fraud."
"This was the biggest poll fraud that has taken place in Pakistan's electoral history," said the PPP's spokesman, Raza Rabbani, who is the opposition leader in the upper house of parliament.
"The whole exercise lacked moral and political legitimacy," he said.
"The results are totally managed, planned and rigged," said Liaquat Baluch, deputy secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance.
"It shows that free and fair elections are not possible in the presence of ... Musharraf," he said.
Information Minister Rashid, however, insisted that the polling was "free, fair and transparent" and called the opposition allegations a "cover up" of their defeat.
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