Pakistan election: A charade masquerading as democracy

[Flabbergasted]

Source: The Independent

General Musharraf wins – again – by a landslide, but the 'free, fair and transparent' election fools no one. Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich report
Published: 07 October 2007

As a spectacle of democracy in action, it was stillborn even before it began. Called one by one in alphabetical order yesterday, Pakistan's parliamentarians walked to a screened-off booth, where they marked their ballot papers and then dropped them into a large plastic bin. As General Pervez Musharraf was elected by an overwhelming majority to serve another five years as President, the intended message could not have been clearer: this process is fair, free and transparent. In reality, it was none of these things.

The voting process began at 10am on a hot, breezeless day and concluded five hours later. Shortly after the ballots closed at the National Assembly building in Islamabad and four regional assemblies across the country, it was announced that General Musharraf had secured an overwhelming victory. The Election Commission announced he had won 252 of the 257 votes cast in parliament, and he was poised to win by a similar landslide in all four of the regional assemblies. Inside the National Assembly the general's supporters cheered and waved, as though they had feared the outcome might have been in doubt.

In fact, it was never in question. Ever since the country's Supreme Court nine days ago cleared the way for General Musharraf to run for the presidency while remaining head of the armed forces, it was clear there would be only one winner. Neither the resignation last week of 86 opposition members in protest nor the boycott of the vote yesterday by members of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto was going to change that.

Nor were the military leader's supporters going to be distracted by the Supreme Court, which in an 11th-hour decision allowed the election to proceed, but declared that the result could not be officially validated until it had ruled on yet another legal challenge to General Musharraf's candidacy. "This result shows the people want continuity of policy," said the Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz. "It's a very good omen that the election was fair and transparent."

An alien from another universe might have been impressed yesterday by the appearance of democracy, and the claim that the vote marked a move towards a more representative system. But in Washington and London it will have been seen as a necessary charade to safeguard General Musharraf's presidency and retain him as an ally in the "war on terror".

The day after the al-Qa'ida attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001, General Musharraf was bluntly told by Washington that he had the choice of being "100 per cent with us or 100 per cent against us". The general's domestically difficult decision to ally himself with President George Bush, first against the Taliban and then in a broader effort against extremism, has seen him rewarded in many ways. Observers believe Pakistan has received at least $10bn (£4.8bn) from the US since that date, and maybe twice as much. Crucially, Washington has also provided him with political backing.


Read more: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3036019.ece

[hobbit709]

1. The best "Democracy" our money could buy.

[varun]

2. Both Bush and Mush "Selected" by their Supreme Courts

I am not surprised they are best buddies.

:eyes: