[NYTr] Pakistan Election to Be Delayed "at least a month"

Mon Dec 31 04:05:26 EST 2007

AFP via Yahoo - Dec 31, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071231/wl_asia_afp/pakistanattacksbhuttovotedelay_071231084815

Pakistan vote will be delayed: cabinet official

Pakistan's parliamentary elections will be delayed at least four weeks
or more after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a cabinet official
told AFP on Monday.

A senior government official and an election commission official also
said there would be a postponement of the January 8 vote after the
unrest that swept the country following Bhutto's death.

"Certainly it will be pushed back for at least four weeks if not more,"
the cabinet official said.

The senior government official told AFP: "It is out of the question
that the elections will be held on January 8 because of the widespread
unrest that has directly affected election staff and vote preparations."

He said logistics and preparations had been disrupted by unrest in
Sindh province, the heartland of the Bhutto family and its legions of
supporters, and that ballot printing in the country's biggest city
Karachi was behind schedule.

"More than 40 offices of the election commission and its administrative
offices have been damaged in Sindh," the government official said.

"The ballot papers were printed at two places, at a security printing
press in Karachi and the government printing press in Islamabad. Most
of the work in Islamabad has been completed, but the preparations in
Karachi were disrupted.

The election commission official said: "No doubt, the elections are
going to be delayed."

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AP via Yahoo - Dec 31, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071231/ap_on_re_as/pakistan

Pakistan officials recommend poll delay

By SADAQAT JAN

Election officials recommended Monday that parliamentary polls
scheduled for Jan. 8 be delayed for an unspecified period following
unrest triggered by the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader
Benazir Bhutto.

The recommendation came as video footage of Bhutto's killing raised new
questions about the government's version of how she died.

Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilashad told reporters that a
decision on the timing would be announced on Tuesday, but a
recommendation "has been sent to the government for a delay."

The country's major opposition parties have demanded that elections
take place as scheduled on Jan. 8 despite turmoil triggered by the
assassination. A successful vote would bolster U.S.-backed plans to
restore democracy to the nuclear-armed country as it battles Islamic
extremism.

Bhutto was killed Thursday, but disagreements between her supporters
and the government over the precise cause of death are undermining
confidence in President Pervez Musharraf and adding to calls for
international investigators to probe the killing.

The video footage, obtained by Britain's Channel 4, shows a man firing
a handgun at Bhutto from close range as she stands up in an open-topped
vehicle. Her hair and shawl then move upward, suggesting she may have
been shot. She then falls into the vehicle just before an explosion
rocks the car.

The government has insisted Bhutto was not hit by any of the bullets
and died after the force of the blast slammed her head against the
sunroof. Bhutto's family and supporters say she died from gunshot
wounds to her head and neck.