EU monitors say Pakistan poll was flawed

By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad | February 20 2008 17:56

Election monitors from the European Union cast doubt on Wednesday on the fairness of Monday’s parliamentary elections in Pakistan, citing cases of authorities favouring the for­mer ruling party, which is allied to Pervez Musharraf, the president, during the campaign.

Even so, it was the opponents of Mr Musharraf who emer­ged victorious, with the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s party (PPP) winning most seats in the National Assembly. The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam) suffered big losses.

No party won a maj­ority, so the PPP and the Pak­is­tan Muslim League-Nawaz, led by Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, are in talks on forming a coalition. They said on Wednesday night they expected progress by the weekend.

The EU findings were disclosed as George W. Bush, US president, described the polls as a ­“victory in the war on terror”.

India said it was ready to restart talks on unresolved issues with Pakistan.

Michael Gahler, a member of the European parliament and the EU’s chief observer, said: “A level playing field was not provided for the campaign, with public auth­orities primarily favouring the former...

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