Pakistani leader's pro-U.S. policies face election test

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Originally published Tuesday, April 30, 2002

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Voters go to the polls today in a referendum that will test popular support for the pro-U.S. policies of President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf is asking for a five-year mandate in yes-or-no voting that could help legitimize his military government at the ballot box. The election also is a barometer of public sentiment for his support of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Musharraf promised "free and fair" elections Monday in a televised speech to the nation. "I need your strength to go forward," he said. "Your decision will be fully acceptable and final for me."

Musharraf, an army general who seized power in a coup in 1999, has allowed U.S. troops to use Pakistani military facilities, ordered joint raids on suspected al-Qaida hideouts and permitted the FBI to investigate the network in Pakistan.

In addition, Musharraf, 58, has condemned the kind of Muslim religious fanaticism that gave rise to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan -- while promising not to turn his back on Pakistan's Islamic roots.

A big turnout in favor of Musharraf means the United States will have "a stable, dependable and critical ally in Pakistan," says Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a political science professor at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. "It means a more certain political environment for the United States."

Opponents concede Musharraf is a cinch to win. They raised an outcry after they were barred from putting their names on the ballot. Voters will simply mark their ballots "yes" or "no" to indicate whether they want Musharraf to serve five more years as president.

The real test will be turnout, which could prove embarrassing to Musharraf if fewer voters than expected go to the polls. He has said he needs the backing of at least 30 percent of the nation's 62 million voters.

Musharraf came to power by toppling an elected government, but he has stressed democratic themes during his campaign and vowed to hold national parliamentary elections this year. State-owned television showed music videos Monday night interspersed with scenes of Musharraf greeting diplomats and making speeches.

Musharraf has held tightly controlled rallies in Pakistan's largest cities over the past few weeks. Campaign photos and billboards of him are pasted around the capital of Islamabad but are largely unseen in tribal areas and some smaller cities. He has pressed a range of campaign themes for specific groups, from efforts to crack down on crime for weary urbanites to land reform for poor farmers.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to Terror in America index