Pakistan's prime minister said on Wednesday that parliamentary elections will be held in January, a vote that will test President General Pervez Musharraf's goal of rallying moderates against spreading extremism.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said a caretaker government would be set up to organize the polls "in the beginning of January." He did not give a specific date.
"The elections would be held in a free and fair manner, and international observers would also be invited" to monitor them, Aziz told reporters.
PHOTO: AP
The announcement comes after Musharraf, who has dominated Pakistani politics since seizing power in a 1999 coup, scored an overwhelming victory in a weekend presidential election.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the results can only become official when it has ruled on complaints that Musharraf was not eligible to run.
However, few analysts expect the judges to disqualify Musharraf, who has said he will give up his powerful position as head of the army only after securing a new five-year term.
Maneuvering for the parliamentary vote is already in full swing.
Musharraf has been in talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto that could see them share power if her party makes gains in the parliamentary vote.
Both are pro-US and have called for moderate forces to join hands to reverse a resurgence of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants along the Afghan border.
However, Musharraf -- who issued an ordinance on Friday to quash pending corruption cases against Bhutto and other politicians -- faces resistance from within the conservative ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, whose leaders could be sidelined by a Bhutto comeback.
Opposition parties largely boycotted Saturday's presidential vote among federal and provincial lawmakers to undermine the legitimacy of Musharraf's re-election.
The Supreme Court is considering petitions arguing that Musharraf should have been disqualified under a constitutional bar on public servants running for elected office.
The court's next hearing is set for Wednesday, just a day before Bhutto plans to make a tumultuous return from eight years in self-exile.
In a recorded interview aired by Pakistan's ARY news channel on Wednesday, Musharraf urged Bhutto to delay her return until he overcomes the legal challenge.
"I would say she should not come before" the court verdict, he said. "She should come later, after the 18th [of October]."
When asked how he would react if the court disqualified him, he said: "We will cross the bridge when we reach it."
Musharraf's term, like that of parliament, expires on Nov. 15.
In another twist which could benefit Musharraf, the government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province was dissolved on Wednesday.
A coalition of religious parties which controls the provincial government had initiated the dissolution to undermine Musharraf's re-election.
But maneuvering among its components held up the move, exposing rifts between the two main Islamist groups and fanning speculation that one of them will join a pro-Musharraf government next year.
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