Pakistani court rejects bid to postpone election
Updated: 2007-10-05 16:58
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Supreme Court rejected on Friday an opposition bid to postpone Saturday's presidential election, a local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.
 Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto speaks to the media at a house in London October 4, 2007. Bhutto said on Thursday she was optimistic that a political deal could be reached with President Pervez Musharraf. [Agencies] |
Hearing the petitions which were filed by two other presidential candidates to challenge President Pervez Musharraf's presidential candidature, the Supreme Court said that it would uphold the Election Commission's agenda for presidential elections, the DAWN NEWS report said.
A 10-member bench of the Supreme Court announced that a final notification of the result would not be given until October 17.
If reelected, Musharraf will not be allowed to take oath before a final verdict of the petitions is given, a Supreme Court statement said.
Two presidential candidates, former Supreme Court judge Wajeehuddin Ahmed and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the acting chief of opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), filed petitions in the Supreme Court challenging Musharraf's candidature on Tuesday.
The petitions said that Musharraf could not contest presidential elections while still holding the office of army chief. They asked the Supreme Court to stay the presidential elections.
According to a ruling given by the Supreme Court on September 28, petitions against Musharraf's on his dual office had been dismissed, a sign that Musharraf was allowed to take part in the presidential elections in uniform.
The presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the National and Provincial Assemblies on Saturday.
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