Pakistan Vote Delayed At Least a Month

A senior election official in Pakistan has announced that elections scheduled for January 8 will be postponed till at least the second week of February. This follows the assassination of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27. Apparently Musharraf is afraid Bhutto's party would get the sympathy vote if elections moved ahead as planned. Or perhaps there's a need for additional vote-rigging:

Bhutto was killed Thursday evening in a shooting and bombing attack on her vehicle as she left a campaign rally. She had been scheduled to meet hours later with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.

Sen. Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, said she had planned to give the lawmakers a report outlining complaints on "pre-poll rigging" by Musharraf's government and the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate.

Gee, I'm sure our good buddy Musharraf hasn't used any of that $10 billion we've given him to exert any, shall we say, undue influence. I wonder what happened to Condi Rice's promise to "review" our aid to Pakistan after he fired the Supreme Court and declared martial law in the fall. Guess I shouldn't hold my breath. These things takes time, you know. Just like the election.