Bhutto refuses to accept defeat but promises to co-operate with Sharif

PAKISTAN'S ousted prime minister, Ms Benazir Bhutto, yesterday refused to accept her crushing election defeat, but offered to…

PAKISTAN'S ousted prime minister, Ms Benazir Bhutto, yesterday refused to accept her crushing election defeat, but offered to cooperate with her victorious rival, Mr Nawaz Sharif, for political stability.

She told a news conference after Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML) decisively won the elections that the vote was a fraud "engineered" by a hostile caretaker government. "I do not accept the results," she said.

Foreign election observers say they saw nothing that would have altered the outcome.

In an apparent olive branch to Mr Sharif after years of acrimony between them, Ms Bhutto said: "Irrespective of my views concerning the legitimacy of the electoral process, I wish Mian Nawaz Sharif good luck. The country needs political stability, our people need economic relief."

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She said she would propose at a meeting of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leaders today that it co-operate in creating stability "which in the long run will strengthen democracy and the economic well-being of our people".

She spoke soon after Mr Sharif urged her to accept defeat gracefully, as his party and its allies seemed headed for the two-thirds majority in the 217-seat National Assembly (lower house) that would enable it to change the constitution. "I see no reason why she should not accept these results," Mr Sharif said in Lahore, where jubilant supporters thronged his sprawling residence.

With only 13 results to be declared the PML had won 134 National Assembly seats. With nine seats won by its ally, the Awami National Party based in North West Frontier province, it was only two seats away from a two-thirds majority of 145. The PPP had won only 17 seats as counting continued. Previously, the PPP had 86 seats and the PML 68.

Ms Bhutto said Mr Sharif could use his parliamentary clout to amend the constitution to get rid of the controversial Eighth Amendment used by presidents to dismiss four prime ministers in eight years.

The Karachi-based ethnic Mohajir National Movement (MQM), which boycotted the last National Assembly election in 1993, won 12 seats. A breakaway PPP faction led by Ms Bhutto's estranged sister-in-law, Mrs Ghinwa Bhutto, gained one seat.

The charismatic cricketer-turned-politician, Mr Imran Khan, failed to win in any constituency where results had been declared.

The President, Mr Farooq Leghari, once a Bhutto ally, called the elections after sacking her government on November 5th, alleging corruption and misrule. Ms Bhutto denies the charges.

Mr Sharif, a Lahore-based industrialist who led Pakistan from 1990 to 1993, said the PML would restore stability. "This country needs a strong and stable government and we have a very strong mandate," he said.

He said his first priority for the economy would be to deliver "clean, good, honest government" that would aim to cut spending and create an investment climate.

The Karachi stock market welcomed the election result with a buying spree that sent the 100-share index soaring 50.74 points.