Saturday, October 6, 2007

Musharraf Wins in Pakistan But It Matters Little

Not that this election really means all that much but Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf was elected for a third term as president according to unofficial ballot results.


He still faces legal challenges because Pakistan's Supreme Court may rule Musharraf is ineligible to hold office as president. The second runner-up will take office instead, as the constitution stipulates.


Musharraf is facing a great deal of opposition. They demand that Musharraf abandon his position as Pakistan's military chief before seeking another presidential term.


90% of the overall votes are cast for Musharraf but there will be few people who can see it as a credible, normal election when a large number of his political opponents have said they do not want anything to do with it.


As on many points, Pakistan's national security depends on an Islamist, Pashtun-dominated régime according to Michael Scheuer's analysis (Imperial Hubris pp. 54-56) and I believe he is correct.