PAKISTAN: Campaigning in Pakistani general elections held under tight security and on Television

Record ID: 345586

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Campaigning in Pakistani general elections held under tight security and on Television
  • Date: 16th February 2008
  • Summary: CARAVANS OF SUPPORTERS OF PRO-MUSHARRAF PAKISTAN MUSLIM LEAGUE GOING DOWN ROAD
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Communications,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACYWZ529JCLAUKQLJPTAZB4QKD
  • Story Text: Due to an increase in violence, election campaigning in Pakistan has taken to the air waves with candidates appealing to voters through television.
    Pakistan is scheduled to hold a general election on Monday (February 18) with many fearful of militant violence after a spate of attacks in recent months -- most notably the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
    The suicide and gun attack which killed Bhutto, one of the main opposition leaders on December 27, postponed the polls from January 8.
    In the run-up to the election, both candidates and voters are not taking chances when it comes to security.
    Politicians address supporters from behind bullet-proof glass and private security guards keep a watchful eye over supporters.
    "Who can conduct any free (and) fair election campaign under these circumstances, a secure election campaign? You know, one of our main leaders has lost her life," said candidate and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
    Pakistani polls are usually lively events with enormous posters, flags and loud music. Supporters turn out in droves to catch a glimpse of the politician who they think will help them the most.
    This time, though, campaigning has been subdued, even in rural areas where security risks are lower.
    But many candidates are getting help from modern technology in getting their message across to 80 million registered voters scattered throughout the country.
    The technology helped by unrestrained censorship has allowed Pakistan's media to flourish with dozens of new TV channels springing up in the country.
    President Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999 , had hailed the liberated media as one of his government's main achievements.
    But the achievement may allow the country to witness his downfall.
    Satellite dishes on top of roofs are becoming increasingly common in even small villages like Chatto Chand, located 110 kilometres from Karachi.
    Many people still can't afford to have their own TV but the local restaurant provides free viewing.
    People drop by to watch ads by candidates as well as news programmes discussing the issues and possibilities of election results.
    "This cable (TV) is very useful. We watch everything without the least exertion. We know what is happening, which candidate is rising which is falling. Who will bag vote and who will not," said Kiran, the only literate girl in Abdullah Missan Village, also located outside of Karachi.
    Apart from the arrival of electricity and television, nothing much has changed in villages such as Abdullah Missan in the last 60 years.
    But the cable link to the outside world has made gathering around the TV set up in the courtyard to check on what is going on in the rest of the country a small event in the daily lives of the villagers.
    "Cable TV is very useful. We watch everything very easily. We know what is happening, which candidate is rising which is falling, who will bag vote and who will not," said Kiran, the only literate girl in Abdullah Missan Village.
    Bhutto's party is expected to sweep rural areas of her home province of Sindh and split the vote in its capital, Karachi, with a pro-Musharraf party.
    "Now we know everything. Cable TV is switched on 24 hours day and night. It is like we are being educated at school," said 70-year-old Dur Mohammad.
    The vote on Monday could be a tough one for Musharraf if it returns a hostile parliament with a prime minister who wants to be his own man and not play second fiddle to Musharraf who recently gave up his military title to become a civilian president. .
    Musharraf got himself re-elected while still army chief by a pliant parliament before it was dissolved, and then in November invoked emergency powers for six weeks to remove judges who might have ruled it unconstitutional.
    Political watchers say the cooperation between Musharraf and the new government --- possibly one led by the main opposition party -- would shape the political future and stability of the country.
    "It really depends how that relationship is going to workout but I don't think he is going to exercise the power that he has been exercising in Pakistan. At best he will be marginalized, at worst he will be thrown out of political system," Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Professor of Political Science, Lahore University of Management Sciences.
    Rising costs of living and the rising human cost of the war on Islamist militants that many think is America's and not Pakistan's have made Musharraf unpopular.
    An expected low turnout, and possible vote rigging could help Musharraf ride out the storm. But if any rigging is overdone it would risk sparking agitation that could precipitate his end.
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