Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 February / Trend corr R. Hafizoglu, D. Khatinoglu / The population and several political parties in Pakistan are boycotting the parliamentary elections because they do not believe that the elections are democratic. "The population and political parties of Pakistan do not believe that the elections are democratic," the Secretary General of the Labour Party of Pakistan Faruq Tariq said to Trend.
On 18 February, Pakistan is holding the parliamentary elections. According to media reports, several political parties and most of the population have boycotted the elections.
The Labour Party boycotted the parliamentary elections because they do not believe that the elections were held freely. The people do not take an active part in the elections and several parties even refused from nominating their candidates. We are certain that the authorities will change the statistics of the votes," Tariq said to Trend from Islamabad on 18 February. According to Secretary-General, most of the population took part in the elections in order to vote for the 'Khalg' and 'Muslim Lig' parties. "We cannot forecast anything just now. However, it is not excluded that Pervez Musharraf's party will win through falsification of the votes," he said.
The Turkish Pakistan researcher Mahmud Osmanoglu said to Trend in a telephone conversation from Istanbul that in both cases the parliamentary elections in Pakistan will not oust Pervez Musharraf from the political scene. "The population and the democratic elections are boycotted in Pakistan because they are not democratic," Osmanoglu said. According to Osmanoglu, political tension in Pakistan will be aggravated, not before the elections, but after them.
"One must not forget the strong Islamic factor in Pakistan. The fact that the biggest political party of Pakistan - Pakistani Islamic Community (Jamaat - e-Islami Pakistan) does not take part in the elections further aggravates the situation," Osmanoglu said. He stated that the words of former prime minister Nevaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardabi, the leader of the Popular Party that "we will settle accounts with Parviz Musharraf after the elections" is an interesting comment.
"If the party of the late Bhutto and Navaz Sharif win the elections, they will remove the current president Parviz Musharraf from power. If these parties do not poll enough votes in the elections, I do not rule out a coup d'etat in Pakistan sooner or later," the expert said.
The Pakistani expert Abdullah Anis, who participated as an observer in the elections in Pakistan, said that the population do not believe in democratic elections.
"In small towns and provinces of Pakistan the people do not come to the polling stations because they do not believe in the elections," Anis said to Trend on telephone from Islamabad from the polling stations on 18 February.
According to Anis, if this continues, it may result in a by-election being held.
He did not rule out that the situation after the elections will be aggravated. "A coup d'etat in the country is impossible after the parliamentary elections," the political scientist said.
The parliamentary elections in Pakistan were to be held on 1 January. However, the parliamentary elections were postponed until 18 February due to the murder of Banazir Bhutto on 27 December.