The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday unveiled the schedule of the general elections, the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) channel reported.

 

The polls of the general elections will be held on Jan. 8 in 2008, Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan Qazi Muhammad Farooq said.

 

The nomination papers are expected to be filed from Nov. 21 to 26 and they will be scrutinized from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, Farooq said.

 

The revised list of candidates will be issued by the Election Commission on Dec. 16, according to the schedule.

 

President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday said he was recommending to the election commission that general elections be held on Jan. 8 in 2008.

 

Musharraf said in an interview with state media that the election rules had been changed to ensure transparency in the upcoming polls.

 

Transparent ballot boxes would be used and the results would be announced immediately after the counting at polling stations, where representatives and agents of every candidate would be sitting along with polling staff, Musharraf said.

 

The caretaker cabinet also repeatedly pledged that they would make every effort to ensure the general elections be held in a free, fair and transparent way.

 

Chairperson of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto has said that the government had prepared a plan to rig the upcoming elections and PPP, together with other opposition parties, would launch a nation-wide movement against the rulers, local newspaper The Nation reported on Tuesday.

 

However, U.S.Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Sunday demanded Musharraf to immediately lift the emergency rule and quit as army chief so that free, fair and credible elections could be held in the country.

 

Referring to the remarks of Negroponte, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said, "This is nothing new. The U.S. has been saying this for many days. He has said the same thing."

 

Musharraf proclaimed a state of emergency in the country and promulgated a provisional constitutional order on Nov. 3, holding the constitution in abeyance.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)