Pakistan Promised a General's Election

For once the general left his camouflage commando uniform at home. Instead, dressed in a sombre dark suit and tie, General Pervez Musharraf appeared on television to promise a new future for Pakistan.

Clearly galvanised by his referendum earlier this week, the general called for reconciliation with his critics and promised a new crackdown against Islamic militancy. "We should forget the tensions of the past and look toward the future in the interest of Pakistan," he said in a brief address on Thursday night.

But his critics are unlikely to be convinced. Pakistani journalists and human rights activists have been scathing about Tuesday's vote, which confirmed Gen Musharraf as president for another five years. Dozens of cases of vote-rigging and manipulation have been highlighted and it was clear that most polling stations were largely empty throughout the day. The human rights commission of Pakistan is preparing a detailed report, which includes video evidence of malpractice. Gen Musharraf won the vote, but he may have lost a lot more in terms of credibility.

Now the regime appears to have realised it went too far when the election commission, headed by a former supreme court chief justice, announced 98% had voted in favour of the general with an astonishing 70% turnout.

Senior officials have quietly tried to revise the figures. Abdul Hakim, the head of the national institute of population studies, said the government now believes the total number of eligible voters was much higher than first thought. It now appears there were 78.3 million people eligible to vote, rather than the 61.9 million announced by the head of the election commission on the night before the referendum. As a result of the rethink the new voter turnout falls to a slightly more modest 56%.

It is unclear whether many will be convinced by the statistical reshuffle. But there are signs already that a difficult political battle is opening up ahead of the elections promised for October.

For the first time in more than a year the Muttahida Qaumi movement (MQM), one of the leading political parties, called a strike on Thursday in Karachi, its heartland on the coast in Sind. Four bombs exploded during the day, killing a boy aged 12 and injuring at least 10 others. It was the first time since Gen Musharraf's coup in October 1999 that Karachi had returned to the wave of strikes and violence that tore the city apart in the past decade. It will do little to encourage investment in Pakistan's biggest city and most important industrial base.

For weeks before the referendum the MQM, which represents those Muslims who crossed from India to Pakistan after partition in 1947, supported Gen Musharraf. But on Tuesday it appears the party ordered its supporters to boycott the poll, angered by the murder of two senior MQM leaders which some blamed on Pakistan's intelligence agencies.

Now the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, the group of political parties that opposed the referendum, will meet in Islamabad on Saturday to draw up a political campaign for the months ahead.

At the same time, Gen Musharraf will be keen to build up his own political support. Some splinter groups from the two main political parties have already sided with him along with others including Imran Khan, the former cricket captain, and Farooq Leghari, a former president.

The regime is clearly trying to woo others. Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, a senior leader from the Pakistan People's party, is expected to become a new political ally of the general. Shortly after the coup he flew to Britain and was charged in his absence in several corruption cases. But earlier this year he returned to Pakistan and was sent to jail. Now he is winning acquittal from many of his cases on appeal and is expected to be freed within days. A special polling booth was set up in his jail so he could be photographed voting for Gen Musharraf in the referendum.

In the months ahead political rivalries are likely to ignite as the military regime presses for victory in the October elections.