Pakistan delay vote by at least two months: officials

[tekisui]

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's elections will be delayed by at least four weeks due to mass unrest after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a cabinet official told AFP.

Other government and election officials confirmed that the January 8 polls would be postponed.

Bhutto's party rejected any delay and insisted the government should stick to the schedule, but a spokesman for Nawaz Sharif, another major opposition leader, said a short postponement "would be acceptable."

The vote is under scrutiny around the world as President Pervez Musharraf pledges to complete the Islamic nation's transition to civilian-led democracy after eight years of his military rule.

Bhutto's murder during a campaign rally last Thursday however changed the atmosphere, unleashing a wave of deadly violence.

"Certainly it will be pushed back for at least four weeks if not more," the cabinet official said.

A government official told AFP separately: "It is out of the question that the elections will be held on January 8 because of the widespread unrest that has directly affected election staff and vote preparations."

He said logistics and preparations had been disrupted by unrest in Sindh province, the heartland of the Bhutto family and its supporters, while ballot printing in the country's biggest city Karachi was behind schedule.

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