Pakistan’s top court dismisses challenges to Musharraf’s re-election

[gateley]

The Washington Post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan | Pakistan’s Supreme Court, newly stacked with allies of President Pervez Musharraf, dismissed most of the challenges to his re-election Monday.

But opposition leaders rejected the ruling as illegitimate.

The judges, many of them handpicked by Musharraf, struck down the five main challenges to his re-election. The sixth and final petition will be heard Thursday, though that case was also expected to be dismissed.

Pakistani opposition parties had asserted that Musharraf was ineligible to seek re-election last month while also serving as chief of the army. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear challenges in the case when Musharraf fired several justices and proclaimed emergency rule on Nov. 3.

After the court clears all of the challenges to his re-election, Musharraf has promised to resign as head of the country’s military and become a civilian president.

On Monday, Musharraf also said he was asking the country’s electoral commission to call parliamentary elections for Jan. 8.

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