By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : President Pervez Musharraf has won the Oct 6 presidential polls, the Election Commission formally declared Saturday, clearing the last hurdle in his way to taking oath for a second term.
“We have notified General Pervez Musharraf as the winning candidate in the presidential elections held on Oct 6,” a senior poll panel official confirmed to IANS.
He said the notification was sent to the government and now “it is up to the cabinet division when to ask the candidate to take the oath of office”.
Musharraf had won the poll with a huge margin but the notification of the result had been suspended by the Supreme Court following petitions by his rival candidates against his candidature.
However, after the imposition of emergency in the country by Musharraf Nov 3, the services of most of the apex court judges were terminated and only those were allowed to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) who showed loyalty to the government.
The notification clears all hurdles in the path of Musharraf to take oath as president for the second term that started Nov 16.
However, informed sources said Musharraf was delaying the oath taking to “gain full control” as he had promised to doff the military uniform before the swearing-in as president again.
Some senior members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) are in favour of Musharraf continuing as president in uniform.
“In a recent meeting, four very senior members of PML-Q met the president and requested him to continue in uniform,” said a government official.
But he said that Musharraf, who has been able to “befriend” former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, will doff the uniform before taking oath.
Sharif, whose elected government was overthrown by Musharraf in a bloodless military coup in October 1999, has announced plans to return to the country Sunday ahead of the Jan 8 polls.
The sources said that Musharraf allowed him to return after he was ditched by another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, who came back after eight years of self-exile last month under an agreement with the military regime but later turned against Musharraf and issued public statements against him.
“I can’t work, can’t be prime minister with a military dictator,” she said after the imposition of emergency.
“In such a situation Sharif best suits Musharraf,” said a government official.
On the other hand, Sharif has softened his stance against the president who sent him into exile seven years ago and also on Sep 10 when he tried to land in Pakistan.
“We don’t have any personal grudge against anyone in the country… We want to work together for the betterment of the people and the state,” said Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif who would be returning to the country with his brother and sister-in-law Begum Kulsoom Nawaz.
Sharif’s own faction of PML was also giving final touches to the arrangements for his reception in Lahore where he is scheduled to land at 5.00 pm Sunday.
“I don’t see any problem in giving reception to the former prime minister,” his party’s spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told mediapersons in Lahore.
Iqbal said they were not inviting anyone to the airport but all those who wanted to join the reception were more than welcome.
Asked if the Sharifs would contest the polls, he said the decision would be taken after their arrival in Pakistan.