Bhutto Claims A Million Names Added To Rig Ballot
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday October 23, 1990
LAHORE, Tuesday: Dismissed former Prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto claimed vote-rigging had already begun on the eve of bitterly contested polls here, which must either restore Ms Bhutto's sacked popular Government or usher in a pro-military regime.
Shortly after her claims, Pakistani authorities filed another power-abuse charge against Ms Bhutto and extended her husband's detention.
The charge of illegal appointments to government jobs was filed before a one-man tribunal in the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore. This was the seventh charge brought against Ms Bhutto after her 20-month-old Government was dismissed on August 6 and fresh elections ordered.
On the final night of campaigning in the northern city of Lahore today, hundreds of thousands of chanting Bhutto supporters filled the streets, greatly outnumbering and overwhelming the staid crowd of her opponents of the IJI (Islami Janhoori Ittehad ).
However, despite her obvious popularity, few political analysts expect Ms Bhutto to sweep the polls against the IJI coalition, which is backed by the powerful armed forces and has blatantly run its campaign with the help of funds from the pro-military caretaker administration.
"The vote rigging has already started," a Bhutto spokesman claimed, adding that more than one million extra names had recently appeared on the electoral rolls.
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which has attracted massive and passionate crowds since the Prime Minister's dismissal, claims it cannot lose in a free and fair competition. But the corruption and inefficiency which marked Ms Bhutto's 20-month rule has undermined the image of the charismatic leader and local political pundits are predicting that neither side will be able to obtain a clear majority.
The Electoral Commission today announced that 15,000 troops had been deployed for the voting and declared 60 out of the 217 constituencies as"sensitive", saying that scenes of religious or ethnic violence were likely when supporters of competing parties went to the polls tomorrow.
The caretaker administration, which took over after Ms Bhutto was sacked in August over alleged corruption in her Government, increased its pressure on the Bhutto camp with a last-minute announcement that a so-called terrorist plot had been uncovered involving the return to power of the PPP "through the use of political assassinations, mass killings and bomb blasts".
The terrorist claim, and similar plots circulating earlier in the campaign, have fuelled fears among Western diplomats that the armed forces may be preparing to seize power if Ms Bhutto scores an unexpectedly decisive victory at the polls.
The relationship between Ms Bhutto and the generals who command the 500,000-strong military has been strained since Pakistan's military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq ordered the execution of her father, sacked Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1979.
In 1988, Ms Bhutto came to power in democratic elections which followed the death of General Zia in a plane crash, but she was unable to establish a good working relationship with the institution which commands 55 per cent of the national Budget and is considered the most politically influential in the country.
In their final election speeches, both Ms Bhutto and the leader of the IJI, Mr Nawaz Sharif, failed to lift the tenor of the campaign above the mud-slinging and name-calling to address any of the fundamental issues affecting impoverished Pakistan.
Ms Bhutto, again crying foul, told the massive crowd: "They (IJI) are not playing a fair game. They are indulging in character assassination." She said only the PPP could ensure democracy in Pakistan.
The IJI leader denied his caretaker administration was rigging the polls.
PAGE 14 : Editorial.
© 1990 Sydney Morning Herald