De verdedigers en de tegenstanders van stem-monteert

Rani Singh

In tegenstelling tot in, namelijk, Amerikaanse politiek, zijn de pre-verkiezingenopiniepeilingen beetje ter plaatse dun in Pakistan. De resultaten van één, echter, zijn gepubliceerd door Dawn. Geleid in Januari 2008, vindt de US-based Vrije opiniepeiling van de Verschrikking morgen dat 70% van Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf willen ophouden met, en dat PPP de populairste partij deze kant van de verkiezingen is, met 36.7% van opiniepeilingskiezers. PML (n) van Nawaz Sharif volgt met 25.3% en PML (q) de steunen Musharraf waarin met 12% komt.

Dawn’s special correspondent Mohammed Ziauddin comments:

“A clean sweep for the PPP at the elections doesn’t fall into the gameplan of Musharraf, London, Brussels and Washington. So they will go along with Musharraf if he rigs and brings in a hung Parliament.”

Mohammed Ziauddin warns of possible dangers ahead:

“The lawyers’ movement, civil society and students are still there, and they’re spoiling for a fight. If there’s the merest hint of rigging, PPP supporters will come out onto the streets and their moaning will turn into marauding and riots. The lawyers cannot be subjugated.”

When I point out that the military can always be mobilised, Ziauddin replies that the army and the rangers will not fire at their own:

“In Punjab, Lahore for instance, many of the army have family members who support the PPP; they are inter-related. With lawyers, they can be baton-charged and tear-gassed. Their numbers are only in the hundreds. PPP supporters will be in the thousands. The only way to stop them would be to fire at them with bullets.”

Discussing censorship and his own newspaper group, Ziauddin says that though Musharraf sees him as an irritant, the President doesn’t see the Dawn as much of a threat as it’s printed and published in English. The diplomats and chattering classes who read it don’t count; they’re not a substantial vote bank. Musharraf is more concerned about the Urdu-speaking channels like Geo News which, as I wrote in an earlier blog, was subject to a 78-day blackout.

Speaking of which, and completely at a tangent, Geo reporters name their cameramen with each sign-off. Considering that the latter often have a trickier job and get less recognition than on-screen reporters, I think that’s a little bit progressive…

Comment on 'The supporters and opponents of vote-rigging' :

RSS TrackBack URL

Related News: