Number: RL34449
Title: Pakistan's 2008 Elections: Results and Implications for U.S. Policy
Authors: K. Alan Kronstadt, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: The Bush Administration urged restoration of full civilian rule in Islamabad and called for the February 2008 national polls to be free, fair, and transparent. U.S. criticism sharpened after President Musharraf's November 2007 suspension of the Constitution and imposition of emergency rule (nominally lifted six weeks later), and the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister and leading opposition figure Benazir Bhutto. To the surprise of nearly all observers, the February elections were relatively free of expected violence. The apparent absence of large-scale election-day rigging allowed opposition parties to decisively defeat Musharraf's allies in Parliament, where nearly all of the senior incumbents lost their seats. An opposition coalition took power in the National Assembly in late March. Parties opposed to Musharraf also took power in three of the country's four provincial assemblies. The result led to the Bush Administration's permanent lifting of couprelated sanctions on aid to Pakistan that had been in place for more than eight years.
Pages: 19
Date: April 9, 2008