Pakistan forsees October election date

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ISLAMABAD,Sept 15 (Agencies): Pakistan's ruling party has enough votes to re-elect President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to a new five-year term, and the vote will likely take place in the first week of October, top party officials said Saturday. An announcement on the date from the Election Commission is imminent, the officials said a day after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party announced she would return to Pakistan on Oct. 18 after an eight-year exile to campaign in parliamentary elections.
Two officials from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the presidential vote would take place in the first week of October. The president, whose term expires Nov. 15, is chosen by an electoral college of all national and provincial lawmakers.
"We have enough votes to easily elect President Musharraf for another term," said Azeem Chaudhry, a senior official in the leader's party.
Chaudhry said that during negotiations on power sharing with Musharraf, Bhutto had demanded too much from the government in return for backing the military leader. Her demands included that the constitution be amended so she could become prime minister for a third term if her party wins parliamentary elections - due by January 2008.
"If we do it, it will send a signal that Benazir Bhutto is the future prime minister, and in this situation who will vote for us?" Chaudhry said.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, overthrowing the government of then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But the U.S.-allied military leader has seen his popularity slide this year after he tried to remove the Supreme Court's popular chief judge and Islamic militants stepped up attacks in the nation.
On Friday, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party announced the two-time former prime minister, who left the country in 1999 amid corruption allegations, will return home in October to campaign in the parliamentary elections, regardless of the outcome of her talks with Musharraf.