The recent referendum conducted by President Pervez Musharraf was a case of "deliberate institutional rigging" where adult franchise was taken to "preposterous limits for dubious ends," a Pakistani weekly has said. "Think of it, 71 per cent turnout of which 97.5 per cent voted yes. So much for the credibility of the exercise. If ever there was a case of deliberate institutional rigging, this was it," the weekly "The Friday Times" said.
Commenting about the referendum held on April 30, the paper claimed in its editorial that one of its reporters cast four votes in the "Presidential referendum" in four different polling stations within a radius of a kilometre.
"One could vote as many times as one desired and many did. This is adult franchise taken to preposterous limits for dubious ends," the editorial written by Najam Sethi said.
"Musharraf admitted that he was conducting this exercise because he wanted to get the fence-sitters off the fence" alluding to the many political stalwarts in the country who had not yet deserted the two mainstream parties led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
Bureau Report