Pakistan Polls Likely to be Delayed

[Election Commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad has just announced that the date of the poll will be decided on Wednesday, after consultations with all the political parties]

Parliamentary elections are set to be postponed for weeks in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, Pakistani officials said Monday.

A senior government official said that he expected a six-week delay in the elections now slated for Jan. 8, despite calls from Bhutto's party, other opposition politicians and world leaders for the polls to be held on time. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilashad told reporters that a decision on the timing would be announced on Tuesday, but a recommendation "has been sent to the government for a delay." The opposition has accused the commission of favoring President Pervez Musharraf's backers

"We will make an announcement on Tuesday morning," election commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad told AFP. He declined to give the length of the delay, which was confirmed by three senior officials.

A cabinet official said it would be at least a month, after election offices were ransacked and voter lists burnt in the wave of unrest that shook Pakistan following Bhutto's killing.

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

Separately, a government official told AFP: "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."

An official on the election commission, which held an emergency meeting on Monday in the capital Islamabad, said: "No doubt, the elections are going to be delayed."

Meanwhile, the government says the country suffered colossal damage in the turmoil following Ms Bhutto's death.

A cabinet meeting was told that losses to the railway system alone amounted to about $200m (£100m), with carriages and locomotives destroyed and signals damaged.

The ruling PML-Q party has said the 8 January vote should be delayed for several weeks, on the grounds that the vote would "lose credibility" if held under current conditions.

But the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) - now led by Ms Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal - says it wants the elections to go ahead as planned.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Islamabad says the PPP wants elections as soon as possible, in order to take advantage of what could be a big sympathy vote.

The other main opposition party, led by Nawaz Sharif, has said that it is also in favour of holding the elections on 8 January, after dropping plans for a boycott and calling for a national unity government.

Foreign election monitors cautioned, however, that a full observation mission would be impossible if the polls went ahead next week because the unrest had caused them to delay preparations.

"We cannot follow our standard methods if the date stays Jan. 8," said Mathias Eick, a spokesman for the European Union-led mission, saying the best it could manage was a limited assessment.

The political uncertainty caused the stock markets to tumble on the first day of trading since the killing. The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange's 100-share index plunged 694.92 points, or 4.7 percent, to 14,077.16 in its biggest single-day loss in points and percentage, while the rupee hit a six-year low.

Watch BBC News video of the Aftermath of the Protests in Sindh that could Delay the Elections [CLICK HERE]

Sources: Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC News