Feb 19, 2008 4:45 am US/Pacific
Bush Admin: Pakistan Vote An 'Important Step'
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
The Bush administration said Tuesday that while Pakistan's election was a step toward restoring democracy in the key U.S. anti-terror ally, it is holding off on a definitive assessment until final results are in.
With President Pervez Musharraf's ruling party conceding defeat in Monday's vote, the State Department said Tuesday it was "pleased" that the election, which was postponed from January after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, had come off relatively peacefully and without major apparent fraud.
"This is an important step on the path towards an elected, civilian democracy that reflects the choices of the Pakistani people," said Nicole Thompson, a department spokeswoman. "We and others in the international community have stressed the importance of having as free, fair and transparent an election process as possible."
She noted there were numerous international and independent local election monitors who had yet to offer reports on the voting process, and she declined further comment until they had spoken and the final official tally is released.
"We will wait for the final election results and the chance to review the monitoring groups' reports before commenting further on the process," Thompson said.
Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of several U.S. lawmakers who traveled to Islamabad to observe the election, said Tuesday the results mean the United States can shift its Pakistan policy.
"This is an opportunity for us to move from a policy that has been focused on a personality to one based on an entire people," Biden said, adding that Washington should help democracy take deeper root in Pakistan.
Traveling with President Bush in Africa, White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was important that the election instill confidence among the Pakistani people.
"For many weeks, almost months now, since the announcement that there would be elections on Feb. 18th, what we have encouraged is for people to be able to express their vote freely, and for this election to inspire confidence in people about their government," she said in Kigali, Rwanda.
In Islamabad, Pakistan's ruling party conceded defeat after opposition parties routed Musharraf allies in the parliamentary elections. The results cast doubt on the political future of Musharraf, who was re-elected to a five-year term last October in a controversial parliamentary ballot.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
