ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LAHORE, PAKISTAN
SOURCE: Associated Press
Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's ousted prime minister, failed in her re-election bid today, according to unofficial results compiled by her own party and by the apparent winner.
But poor turnout - estimated as low as 25 percent - showed voters' lack of support for any of the candidates and their disgust and despair over the state of their democracy.
``I don't give a damn about voting,'' said Mohammed Abdul. Politicians ``get elected, they make promises about roads, then they never build the roads.''
The elections were called after Bhutto was fired last November, charged with corruption and incompetence. But she was allowed to run again, as was Nawaz Sharif, whose own stint as prime minister was cut short in 1993 amid charges of dishonesty.
Official results and turnout figures had not yet been announced late Monday, hours after polls closed.
But Sharif was ebullient, telling supporters in Lahore that reports from his poll workers showed his Pakistan Muslim Party would win a simple majority in the 217-seat National Assembly.
``It is much better than expected,'' he said.
Bhutto's spokesman, Munawar Suhurwardy, said Sharif was sweeping his home province of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province. Bhutto also was losing ground in Sindh, her home province, he added, speaking from her hometown of Larkana, 500 miles south of Islamabad.
Neither party provided any figures.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party had 86 seats in the previous parliament, while Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League had 72.
Bhutto, who voted early Monday, left the polls repeating accusations that her enemies had rigged the vote against her party, apparently preparing for a legal challenge to her expected defeat.
The army deployed 150,000 soldiers to polls across the country to ensure smooth voting.
In the first report of election violence, a militant ethnic party said 10 of its poll workers were abducted Monday, one of whom was beaten to death. The Mohajir Qaumi Movement blamed one of its breakaway factions. However, police could not confirm the violence.
Police were searching for six workers still missing, hours after they were snatched from a Karachi polling station.
Voters were discouraged because there were no new choices among the candidates - and because they've seen three governments dismissed on corruption charges since democracy replaced a military dictatorship in 1985.
President Farooq Leghari, who fired Bhutto three months ago, had pleaded with Pakistanis to vote in a national address Sunday, but even he acknowledged that some of the candidates were tainted.
In addition to Sharif, Bhutto was being challenged by cricket star Imran Khan, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. Khan has denounced the two front-runners as thieves and accused the president of planning to fix the voting to put Sharif back in power.
Hundreds of observers monitored the voting. There were no reports of serious irregularities.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Nawaz Sharif is the apparent winner in Pakistanby CNBelections.