Saturday, October 06, 2007

Despised Underdog Wins in Landslide


Maybe not exactly an "underdog" but certainly controversial and it was a landslide, even in a nation that knows a thing or two about landslides, the real ones.

Pervez Musharrraf, or "Mushie" to his friends, has won Pakistan's presidential election, scoring 252 of the 257 votes cast in that country's parliament. Three ballots were tossed out as invalid and two votes went to his main rival, retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmad. There were 691-eligible votes but the opposition pretty much gave this election a pass, either abstaining (the safe option) or boycotting the election in protest of Mushie's refusal to give up his command of the country's armed forces.

Even before the voting, the ruling party's privatization minister, Wasi Zafar, announced the result to an Associated Press reporter: ''He will be elected with a vast majority. God willing we will enter full democracy.'' Good call Wasi but somehow I don't think God had anything to do with it.

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