By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may order elections by this autumn if he can strike deals with political parties to re-elect him to the country's presidency, a news report said Wednesday.
Parliament and the four provincial assemblies may be dissolved next month after the respective budgets are passed, the Daily Times quoted unnamed sources as saying.
A "final" decision on the mode of Musharraf's re-election is expected within a week, it said.
But the Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid (PML-Q), which Musharraf has nurtured, is in the dark about his parleys.
The president's camp has been engaged in behind-the-scene talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Maulana Fazlur Rahman's rightwing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI).
This, political analysts said, would mean breaking Bhutto's growing proximity to her rival-turned-friend Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf fiercely opposes and who will not be allowed to return from exile.
To get Fazlur Rahman on board, Musharraf would need to break the powerful Islamist conglomerate, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
"Hectic consultations are continuing and the government is already in contact with opposition parties, particularly the PPP and JUI-F, for their support to re-elect the president," the newspaper said.
If the government reaches an understanding with the opposition parties, particularly the PPP, the assemblies would be dissolved in July to hold early general elections.
The president would then seek re-election from the new assemblies. This would meet a major opposition demand since his efforts to seek re-election from the present parliament and assemblies, that form the electoral college, are being questioned on legal grounds.
Musharraf's present term expires Nov 15, so his re-election must be held between Sep 15 and Oct 15.
Thus, the president's re-election from the next assemblies is possible only if the present assemblies are dissolved, the general elections are held within 90 days and the new assemblies are constituted before the cut-off date of Oct 15 for the president's re-election.
Most PML parliamentarians are clueless about the party's election strategy in case the president decides to get himself re-elected from the next assemblies and dissolves the present ones before they complete their tenure, the reports said.
PML-Q, formed largely with those who deserted other parties to join the Musharraf bandwagon, has no charismatic vote catcher. At the same time, its leaders are uncomfortable with any alliance Musharraf might strike to ensure his own survival.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Tuesday that he would contact the heads of different parliamentary parties to initiate a dialogue for the formulation of an election code, The News said.
He said if political leaders did not want to contact the government on this issue, he would contact them himself.
"I do not have any ego problem and will go to them for formulating a code of conduct for free, fair and transparent elections."