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| India-Pakistan |
| Uncle Fester suggests that President Musharraf should go |
| 2008-02-20 |
 Pakistani Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said Tuesday that President Pervez Musharraf should step down after voters handed a devastating defeat to the ruling party in parliamentary elections. Sharif told reporters that Musharraf had said he would quit when people "want him to do so. And now the people have given their verdict." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I'm waiting for John Frum's analysis, but it looks to this uninformed observer like the outcome of the Pakistani elections was better than anything we could have reasonably expected. The Islamists lost a lot of ground. Musharaf's party lost big but still has influence, and by not 'stealing' the election, they have retained/obtained some credibility. No party has dominant control, so the government will have to be a compromise of the parts - and that is a good thing. (Except it can give undue influence to small fringe groups if that's what it takes to get a coalition to critical mass - oops, scary analogy.) They won't be able to impeach Musharaf, but I should think they can replace him through normal channels in good time. And a measured, legal transition is a good thing. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-02-20 08:23 |
| #1 lol Fred--that's an uncanny resemblance. So now Sharif and Bhutto's parties will try to form a government together, and they will likely not have the 2/3rds majority needed to impeach Mushy. So guess what will happen next--Sharif will try to win additional support from the smaller more extremist parties. To get their support, the two main parties will have to make concessions--like give up cooperation with the US, rollback the war against the Taliban etc... So is democracy in Pakistan in our best interest? I hope someone in power has really thought through this... |
| Posted by: sludge 2008-02-20 08:10 |