Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said yesterday an opposition boycott of upcoming polls would only help Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf legitimize his imposition of emergency rule.
Bhutto said she would meet early next week with former rival Nawaz Sharif, who has called for a boycott of the Jan. 8 election, to discuss the issue.
"If we all boycott elections, then it will give Musharraf a two-thirds majority in the parliament to validate his provisional constitutional order," she told a press conference in northwestern city of Peshawar, an Islamic political stronghold.
"That is why we are saying that we will take part in elections under protest, but we will also leave the door open [to talks on a boycott]," she said.
"I am getting conflicting signals from Nawaz Sharif and Qazi Hussain Ahmad about [an] election boycott as they have filed nomination papers and if someone does that it means he is taking part in [the] election," Bhutto said.
Ahmad is the chief of Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, which is also divided over the boycott issue.
Bhutto made the comments after launching the election campaign of her Pakistan Peoples Party in Peshawar on Saturday.
She said she had decided to take part in elections despite having fears they would be rigged by the government.
"They [the government] have a plan to rig the elections. They have created improvised or ghost polling stations and also have a plan to steal thousands of ballot papers a night before election and give them to their candidates," she said.
She accused the government of making "bulk" transfers of key officials ahead of the elections and said that mayors from the former government were misusing public funds meant for the election.
"The government should suspend all mayors and cancel transfers [of officials]," she said.
Bhutto said the election commission had not given her the list of voters in her constituency and was demanding 30 million rupees (US$500,000) to do so.
"This is unfair and many parties cannot pay such a huge amount for the voters' list," she said.
She said she was meeting Sharif so they could reach agreement on whether to boycott the polls.
"Moderate and democratic forces must work together. I have signed a charter of democracy with Nawaz Sharif and we are committed to this charter," she said.
Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3 and suspended the constitution by issuing his own provincial constitutional order as chief of army staff.
He was sworn in for a second term as president on Thursday after stepping down as army chief, and has said he will lift emergency rule by Dec. 16.
He has also said he wants to make next month's elections free and fair.
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